Google #26: Read&Write with Google Docs-a useful Chrome extension for students

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What I love about using Google Chrome as a browser is the way it makes browsing so efficient and easy.  There are so many very useful free Chrome extensions that you can add to your browser to have everything you need right at your finger tips. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I installed a useful Chrome extension today called ‘</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Read&Write with Google Do</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">cs’. This is really designed for students, but I want to explore it and discover all its benefits.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2z5s4LkhsNPmyQkoV6gMyR3bJoLipEqm4gVvHHofHOyvF47qFPu06azMPiG0qV-yLI3Jxj3rshyzh-IIzDHMKxxaTOD1XXWsZOmk5m_gqiZS-eZrVbpQ6G4rnNvw_RpfueJnouglS8s8/s1600/google+docs+post+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="57" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2z5s4LkhsNPmyQkoV6gMyR3bJoLipEqm4gVvHHofHOyvF47qFPu06azMPiG0qV-yLI3Jxj3rshyzh-IIzDHMKxxaTOD1XXWsZOmk5m_gqiZS-eZrVbpQ6G4rnNvw_RpfueJnouglS8s8/s400/google+docs+post+1.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>What does Read&Write with Google Docs do?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This extension can only be used when Google Docs is actually open. It then becomes very useful because it can read the Google document to the students. Imagine how useful this could be to with dyslexia, learning disabilities, struggling readers, and English as a second language Learners.  I can also see a great use for this in a writing assignment when the student wants to review a piece of writing and hear what it sounds like.  However there are a number of other really useful features to this extension:</span></div><br /><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Features</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Text To Speech with Dual Synchronized Highlighting.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgunHIeZ2p2TgVLIzotUsW3WoKXLqQqfTsGR1dPn28yURiNz1BcB7SvU5cYLw5aLHPP7sNfoZsj4Adhvs1597D5EbYBulXD1-Y0dfU6VMATxL0keh_ZQR-heidgEldigORF4gsw5RhBI-M/s1600/google+docs+post+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgunHIeZ2p2TgVLIzotUsW3WoKXLqQqfTsGR1dPn28yURiNz1BcB7SvU5cYLw5aLHPP7sNfoZsj4Adhvs1597D5EbYBulXD1-Y0dfU6VMATxL0keh_ZQR-heidgEldigORF4gsw5RhBI-M/s400/google+docs+post+5.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOgZglJqib0a85CRXh4IIhqhHrQeH24uo2UTD8p5lqmRZqOSUdYvMwedOmeu88i6AEVRpT3OvzHbAUtORxBROfsfON0opX_0VzbukYfNsOjMgMH8sq2lgnjaBpsHKNXZrxq0Dq2SgvfE/s1600/google+docs+post+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUOgZglJqib0a85CRXh4IIhqhHrQeH24uo2UTD8p5lqmRZqOSUdYvMwedOmeu88i6AEVRpT3OvzHbAUtORxBROfsfON0opX_0VzbukYfNsOjMgMH8sq2lgnjaBpsHKNXZrxq0Dq2SgvfE/s400/google+docs+post+4.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_13" o:spid="_x0000_i1027" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:451.5pt; height:282.75pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Lara\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image005.png" o:title=""/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><!--[endif]--></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Talking Dictionary</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Picture Dictionary</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Vocabulary Tool</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAlQdra9k9Yx-JjYA-4uVc6ZvS9hT-6ShQdDYqmb1CuLU_yFFV594L9zX16LJ9Hot6qOv_hmSU6T2Us4CGhC60XfozFEmSyVmoGj52hfZMgLmfDkpFQXm3PHsPtBj2F_WDRSPnUNTHPY/s1600/google+docs+post+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnAlQdra9k9Yx-JjYA-4uVc6ZvS9hT-6ShQdDYqmb1CuLU_yFFV594L9zX16LJ9Hot6qOv_hmSU6T2Us4CGhC60XfozFEmSyVmoGj52hfZMgLmfDkpFQXm3PHsPtBj2F_WDRSPnUNTHPY/s400/google+docs+post+2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_4" o:spid="_x0000_i1026" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:450.75pt; height:281.25pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Lara\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image007.png" o:title=""/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><!--[endif]--></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">- Study Skills tools to capture highlights</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVu78jo4A95sCIyWGj4c13iciXryXXU2r7wa5nSx9OdV_W96hDwKprzABfFy5oVamG1guPaOrE9ZCCD_TNKMkqQiN1W6ABsJnvmiIdTKNTjhrCsjMx7L3WFuyvXAnJGwqJ5oiGnhq8rgM/s1600/google+docs+post+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVu78jo4A95sCIyWGj4c13iciXryXXU2r7wa5nSx9OdV_W96hDwKprzABfFy5oVamG1guPaOrE9ZCCD_TNKMkqQiN1W6ABsJnvmiIdTKNTjhrCsjMx7L3WFuyvXAnJGwqJ5oiGnhq8rgM/s400/google+docs+post+3.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape id="Picture_x0020_7" o:spid="_x0000_i1025" type="#_x0000_t75" style='width:451.5pt; height:285.75pt;visibility:visible;mso-wrap-style:square'> <v:imagedata src="file:///C:\Users\Lara\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image009.png" o:title=""/></v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><!--[endif]--></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A video from the creators of Read&Write for Google Docs</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The creators of this extension have made a video that explains the extension and elaborates on all its amazing features.  Here it is:</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]--></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/wW3gRv9gRCI" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Access Read&Write for Google Docs at the Chrome Web store</b> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can access this extension on the Google Chrome web store here: <a href="http://goo.gl/JNc3o">http://goo.gl/JNc3o</a></span><br /><br /></div>

30 Days of Google Google #26: Read&Write with Google Docs-a useful Chrome extension for students

What I love about using Google Chrome as a browser is the way it makes browsing so efficient and easy.  There are so many very useful free Chrome extensions that you can add to your browser to have everything you need right at your finger tips. I ins…

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Google #25 Create video notes when watching YouTube videos

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXZNeT0g3S48bhgeTfD1rAkJO_o6WrDAtDHutNGMajynlm_c8q9qIhvHtNMo59L1doDqUXJIJIGRWSS-gga3DQDNwxN5GnaAGuMzq65qXd7m18lRuLzeEgL1lHciFlHiLUc9kqXUfQSg/s1600/videonotes.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXZNeT0g3S48bhgeTfD1rAkJO_o6WrDAtDHutNGMajynlm_c8q9qIhvHtNMo59L1doDqUXJIJIGRWSS-gga3DQDNwxN5GnaAGuMzq65qXd7m18lRuLzeEgL1lHciFlHiLUc9kqXUfQSg/s1600/videonotes.JPG" /></a></div><a href="http://www.videonot.es/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.videonot.es/</a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Video notes is a great new tool that enables you to watch a video online and take notes at the same time. This could work really well with information that you want students to explore. This free application works with a number of applications:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="61" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi64vLNIIePzrSHOR2VqIzM0zII7hKIEXouGEGfu0BKdxPt2giE2qT6P8jPm1Sq40znSfQ-6iH3lQna1WfJMZVTSDAkxngWufGY7_EXT0NO70C3ACyd_pMQockLkqSubkGSmnQb24HKDVc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="444" /></span></div><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How VideoNotes works</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Step 1</strong>. <strong>Open VideoNotes</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the purpose of this post we will explore how it works with  YouTube in particular. The way it work with YouTube is that you open VideoNotes (<a href="http://www.videonot.es/)%C2%A0">http://www.videonot.es/) </a> and synchronize it with Google Drive.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="339" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilM7CD3YNDgWz-fGifA-CjMB-vrLrbvNUMBeStSBsK3kFWBPbDsYwYuWQNVhLaBV75sF6ekU6Foxd-JKj7z4AvpfSHEZK1qylhpYkk7hmcWYDdVFYTieqSnBgpCa50wGhfWobbCIfY54s/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><strong><br /></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Step 2. Notice the dual screen</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’ll notice that VideoNotes opens up a dual screen. The left side is for the video and the right side is a notepad for taking notes. This sychronizes with Google Drive where the notes will be saved. This would enable you to collaborate on your notes just as you would if you were collaborating on a Google Document. </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEdoQj8Tvt8vW8D32OfstVR_UjcmXrzfCWc_YthxZk2inasKpYm98NtU9dmt2ELKzZsrgAe8AcpmFTavhFstKOZGOvJCnsPoS6EmxgY7mi_H3roWsYwS0Wfd2zmvD7yp-xQKZziyQjfk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The video leaves a place marker at each new note, which is a very helpful feature. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span> </span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A fantastic presentation on VideoNotes from Matt Newland in Hong Kong</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Matt is a Google certified teacher who lives in Hong Kong, and he sent the group his presentation saying “<em>Here is the presentation I did on Video Notes at the HK Google Summit. Please feel free use</em>.” This gives a great overview of VideoNotes plus detailed steps for using the application.. The presentation also shows the video that went viral (also on the news) from Duncanville High when a student complained about the old-fashioned way the teacher was teaching.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">VideoNotes in the Classroom Presentation:</span><br /><a href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10eis7InH6wWKMVT8ahD6Kj2Yk0w6uneplHtGeXGOK6o/edit?usp=sharing" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10eis7InH6wWKMVT8ahD6Kj2Yk0w6uneplHtGeXGOK6o/edit?usp=sharing</a></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Matt includes an example task you could set your students at the end of the presentation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rpTrWrIrCDXmm9CVZfPbfiiH8oKVVZUqq2fHr1Q_QGJc0QRfPU9_Fb6LUDLGEJ0jFZy68u2sj4AHdZxtgPZ4b_6KLpfbkEZdhyphenhyphenKdoVIk_-bq1QUBk3HrA9O_UbJoSSAARddfmKYuOmM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></b><br /><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Classroom Use of VideoNotes</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. The teacher or the students could create very useful tutorials.<br />2. Students could create the videos as a way of presenting work with notes.<br />3. Students in groups could divide up a task and each find or create relevant videos with notes to empower the rest of the group. <br />4. Students could use VideoNotes for research and note-taking purposes<br />5. Students could view curriculum material, respond to it and share their responses.</span></div>

30 Days of Google VideoNotes Google #25 Create video notes when watching YouTube videos

http://www.videonot.es/Video notes is a great new tool that enables you to watch a video online and take notes at the same time. This could work really well with information that you want students to explore. This free application works with a number…

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Google #22 Discover the potential of YouTube to motivate you as a teacher

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="95" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5knyPUvrYtEY38mg5mqprArkvPYrLHrYaarFXUlzY_60SqNEf6FZIM7X3KWuV_q2N_d389FdikP1xMV6HePS7Iz60hs3fgqN3Kh6fJtM5YoBqO02VxAAmCSxkiZjjVggd_AKETMlpbEs/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="200" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are so many really amazing, educational videos available on YouTube that can really motivate a teacher. These are often brief but powerful in the message expressed. Take a look at these few examples. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">1) Connecting classrooms </b>(1min 53secs)<br />Cathy Cassidy a Grade 1 teacher from Canada Gr 1 teacher gives 'A brief description of my journey to connect my classroom of 6 and 7 year olds'</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/u3RWjZnLLg4" width="420"></iframe></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2) What most schools don’t teach </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(5min 46secs)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These famous names in technology such as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Will.i.am, Chris Bosh, Jack Dorsey, Tony Hsieh, Drew Houston, Gabe Newell, Ruchi Sanghvi, Elena Silenok, Vanessa Hurst, and Hadi Partovi.  express their viewpoints on knowing how to code a computer.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q0z-C8Ke2FQ" width="420"></iframe></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b style="font-size: x-large;">3) The Future of Learning, Networked Society - Ericsson </b>(20 min 16secs)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We’re living in a networked society – a great way to learn anything new. Watch this video as world renowned experts and educators talk about a networked society’s potential to shift away from traditional methods of learning based on memorization and repetition to more holistic approaches that focus on individual students' needs and self expression.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/quYDkuD4dMU" width="420"></iframe></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4) What is 21st century learning?</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(2min 11secs)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Ax5cNlutAys" width="420"></iframe> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These are just a few of the many many offerings that can inspire teachers on YouTube. Do you know of any others to recommend?</span></div>

30 Days of Google Inspiration videos Google #22 Discover the potential of YouTube to motivate you as a teacher

There are so many really amazing, educational videos available on YouTube that can really motivate a teacher. These are often brief but powerful in the message expressed. Take a look at these few examples. 1) Connecting classrooms (1min 53secs)Cathy …

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Google #21: Have you see the new #G+eduhangout site? Take a look…

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the participants at the amazing Google Teacher Academy New York in October 2012, Brent Catlett, has created an awesome new site called #G+Eduhangouts. </span><a href="http://eduhangout.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="http://eduhangout.org/">http://eduhangout.org/</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">This is what Brent says about the site: </b><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiucrgBeIu77RzejW7yM1fGD7OBLYwTPCA87TVJWAlZDFHBJdHHraKptWoPZhlA0zpI7wXf1Yn6Q2m0PL4mH4Vzt6wo7h94V3OpGVQzkrsCRMwqH_BffoYyz0tmFEER6XopcIseF23Ca4s/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="187" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-align: right;">This is Brent</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></span><br />"<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#G+eduhangout has been designed to:</span><br /><ul><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Connect educators together all across the world using Google + Hangouts. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bring experts, authors, and kids together. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Share the wonderful things happening in your classroom with others. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Learn from others that are willing to share. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and a whole lot more. . ."</span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Ideas for using #G+eduhangout</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Brent  gives a whole page of ideas on how to use the site: " </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">#G+eduhangout was created with the idea of flattening the globe, connecting students in classrooms with other students, and sharing the #edugood things going on inside classrooms all over the world.  This lists of ideas is simply some thoughts.  The creativity in which educators spin things is merely up to them.  Run with these ideas, build off them, create new ones.  Please do not hestitate to contact me to add your idea to this page."</span><br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><li>These ideas cover Reading / LA / Writing / English, Maths, Science, Social Studies etc.</li><li>Have a Virtual Book Club</li><li>Conduct a Math Bee with multiple classes</li><li>Show off an experiment</li><li>Use it for mapping / geography skills</li><li>Conduct a global research project together and report back via #G+eduhangout</li><li>Book talk</li><li>Share projects and demonstrations</li><li>Share writing & get feedback from other students</li><li>Have students show younger students something they are working on & vice versa</li><li>Have people from different places talk to you about the weather in their area at the time</li><li>Parts of lessons, perhaps 3 or 4 groups each take a part in the lesson</li><li>Connect with Authors and Poets.  Here is a GREAT list of Authors on Twitter:  <a href="http://goo.gl/as03t">http://goo.gl/as03t </a></li><li>Perhaps share Apps that are being used and share how they are being used.</li><li>Experiments could be looked at from week to week with students hypothesizing and questioning possibilities</li><li>Discuss qualities of your school, city, state, country like size, population, weather, tourist attractions, etc. with other places</li><li>Connect with students to discuss their coursework and papers for a research course</li><li>English classes could do characters from stories and compare and contrast novels</li><li>Show off a class pet, live creatures, or exotic animal from local zoo visit to your classroom</li><li>Have a Quest to connect with every State or multiple countries to gain research data for a project</li><li>Interview experts and leaders in the field and record #G+eduhangout on air and then have for use in class later</li><li>Connect your BLOGGERS with their audience </li><li>Have a Mystery Hangout with other classes from all over the world and have students ask questions to guess where they are from.</li><li>For PE the class could have athlete, Olympian, or fitness gurus join the Hangout</li><li>Use it to collaborate with other schools reading the same text</li><li>Celebrate special events or holidays.  For example, during World Read Aloud Day our high school students read to our elementary students in different buildings</li></span></ul><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and loads more ideas! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whew, this all looks awesome. Brent gives detailed instructions of how he envisions this site developing:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lb9p2lqlmTE" width="420"></iframe></span></div>

30 Days of Google Google #21: Have you see the new #G+eduhangout site? Take a look…

One of the participants at the amazing Google Teacher Academy New York in October 2012, Brent Catlett, has created an awesome new site called #G+Eduhangouts. http://eduhangout.org/This is what Brent says about the site: This is Brent"#G+eduhangout ha…

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Google #20: Six useful ‘Google in the classroom’ posts

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are just so many posts about how to use Google in the classroom that it is quite mind-blowing. Today I thought I would list a few of them that I have found helpful. Four excerpts come from come from one of my favourite blogs, the TeachThought blog. .</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>1) 5 Simple Ways To Use Google Docs In The Classroom</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (from the TeachThought blog)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcIH5NBojq3KxevlO8DheFK5B24tIsdpOlFqdqbCshyF9KZHOAgB2uzYAY2EEm0cDOAYL6UUaZECPoFQSAPLTa_UZb-TmhD2xrlSuuhHHtGg0fKEiKdiknP0RtSWkKA_MUxPOhJ6D13iA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">from <a href="http://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-simple-ways-to-use-google-docs-in-the-classroom/" title="http://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-simple-ways-to-use-google-docs-in-the-classroom/">http://www.teachthought.com/technology/5-simple-ways-to-use-google-docs-in-the-classroom/</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a great post that you must read. It outlines:</span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how to introduce collaborative writing using the integrated reference tools and smart spell checker </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how to use Google Forms as an inbox for collecting assignments from students, </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how to use Google for online, collaborative brainstorming  sessions that provide students with opportunities to work together to develop ideas.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">how to provide students with immediate feedback and increase motivation by creating a simple self-grading quiz with a Google Form.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How to use and create Google Doc templates as a virtual copy machine to save time.</span></li></ul><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>2) 25 ways Google can help you to become a better teacher</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(from the TeachThought blog)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1h_fu7YzIWQhC_VFCtLdV84QJ9XTZ6wJdWQNp1L3ZFjCu-0giN9Ga7jSMWyV6_8OGeNk41KRB7oHFG79GYlgnj4-oLtdZcPu1U8e8jVRF479ER7wfZ-NWjMVWSwDS5Ocx1IO3CfqMiQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">from <a href="http://www.teachthought.com/featured/25-ways-google-can-help-you-become-a-better-teacher/" title="http://www.teachthought.com/featured/25-ways-google-can-help-you-become-a-better-teacher/">http://www.teachthought.com/featured/25-ways-google-can-help-you-become-a-better-teacher/</a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post has 25 very useful tips on using Google in your daily teaching. It is definitely worth a read. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>3) 21 Google Chrome Extensions For Increased Productivity</b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (from the TeachThought blog)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google Chrome is an amazing browser for both teacher and students for many reasons. One big plus is that you can sign into your profile from any compyter and have all your bookmarks, history, settings come up immediately. You’ll see all your extensions appear in a  shot and these make browsing an absolute breeze because everything is right there saving hours of time.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post highlights 21 really useful extensions for encouraging productivityin the classroom.   You need to take a read of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><a href="http://www.teachthought.com/technology/21-google-chrome-extensions-for-increased-productivity/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">21 Google Chrome Extensions For Increased Productivity</a><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>4) 20 Useful Google Search Tips You Probably Don’t Know </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(from the TeachThought blog)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Searching the Internet is such a vital skill these days. There is a lovely embedded plugin that shows the 20 useful lovely tips. (Would love to know which application was used to create this!)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrhLeZwynat0Xb-ckANkpz1FFy_D4x3gJvoyDJxPK_ToV_uclxGtb1gX-9DF11cmwwUu2SaiYAjUXNuRpn5v_LjmlPaCJA8IEN1q8yEQDQxLe4laO84F6bmcZ91Nn4yGG4sfvyMWai_HM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">from </span><span style="color: #0000ee; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-decoration: underline;">http://www.teachthought.com/technology/20-useful-google-search-tips-you-probably-dont-know/</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>5) 52 Tips And Tricks For Google Docs In The Classroom </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(from the TeachThought blog)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiskZUpZX5dmUhfAXyi0DZvpBp-Uh-_eh5A5vtjGIVivFew7l-ZBcxDhOtXMMhzNx3evFZlFWrXuQCulbehqNCXxeqqPPN94Gv9JvHVKhOvWBzq3R9FM5PEezJSpZm_kkmBEaOa6JhbPQc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This post raises the question ‘<i>Are you using Google to its fullest potential?</i>'  It outlines 52 great ideas for getting the most out of Google Docs including awesome ideas and tricks for collaboration, sharing, and staying productive. This post is definitely worth a read….</span><a href="http://www.teachthought.com/technology/52-tips-and-tricks-for-google-docs-in-the-classroom/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">52 Tips And Tricks For Google Docs In The Classroom</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>6) Paperless Classroom Series: Google Drive</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Andy Marsinek shows how he moved from being a teacher who collected everything on paper, to introducing the paperless classroom. This is made possible with Google Drive. He says “<i>students and teachers can access, edit, and work on assignments almost anywhere. And I am certain these mobile device features for Google Docs will only get better</i>.” Take a read….</span><a href="http://www.bpsedtech.org/2012/11/27/the-paperless-options-series-google-drive/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Paperless Classroom Series: Google Drive</a></div>

30 Days of Google Google #20: Six useful ‘Google in the classroom’ posts

There are just so many posts about how to use Google in the classroom that it is quite mind-blowing. Today I thought I would list a few of them that I have found helpful. Four excerpts come from come from one of my favourite blogs, the TeachThought b…

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Google #19: Google glasses? This is INCREDIBLE technology!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh67qpk5ymAO1xlGf69-N2eRX6esaChUW1_nvV7lmsq5NPyKEc6E5aLKAQq4DDXTlftHX10oFV5S1acy1JMti72X98c6aAjeKyZ8w-TFDmWRa9YkvyBL7c2XsDxAOl1sqvX0z7mxHEnzao/s1600/Google.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh67qpk5ymAO1xlGf69-N2eRX6esaChUW1_nvV7lmsq5NPyKEc6E5aLKAQq4DDXTlftHX10oFV5S1acy1JMti72X98c6aAjeKyZ8w-TFDmWRa9YkvyBL7c2XsDxAOl1sqvX0z7mxHEnzao/s320/Google.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><b style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">What are Google glasses?</b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>submitted by Fiona Beal</i></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been reading bits and pieces about Google glasses, and today I thought I would investigate further. All I can say is ‘Wow, wow, wow’. it is quite mind-blowing. You wear them like glasses but they appear to give information, record experiences and allow you to connect with others. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI2TVwEFUkviG10MfN8FM1HxQ_kBz1rtf6of5kLwNg-SiEwIZ5hVhYXVGw9e0XvZzm8Q_lIPP3Wc53H_nZ-zw2IaTG4kkMfXuR5FIkBQHUYBRvHjTxy5SVL8MsgNiBifrpUwXKaFdUq5g/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="373" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">from <a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/" title="http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/">http://www.google.com/glass/start/what-it-does/</a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvboCFOFfZh4qBry5ApuI1TlcTsY6BH_fYb19kQiAMVRKNxAEgxaWiCVodyg4KgYb8c8os4d6w5aK3jcxUR-tL35Y61CJ6yuvVrlytCCSkvAsM4CCn0Wi1oGxoqRmIYlWPeHWJxodFwR8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="392" /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-unveils-augmented-reality-glasses/story-e6frfro0-1226319356168" title="http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-unveils-augmented-reality-glasses/story-e6frfro0-1226319356168"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">http://www.news.com.au/technology/google-unveils-augmented-reality-glasses/story-e6frfro0-1226319356168</span></a><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take a look at this video that Google has put on YouTube about the glasses ‘How it fees through glass’ that I have embedded below. First, h</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ere is their write up which was first of all p</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ublished on Feb 20, 2013:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Want to see how Glass actually feels? It's surprisingly simple. Say "take a picture" to take a picture. Record what you see, hands free. Even share what you see, live. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Directions are right in front of you. Speak to send a message, or translate your voice. Get the notifications that matter most. Ask whatever's on your mind and get answers without having to ask. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All video footage captured through Glass. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welcome to a world through Glass. See more at </span><a href="http://www.google.com/glass/start" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.google.com/glass/start</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now for the video…you MUST watch this! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v1uyQZNg2vE" width="420"></iframe> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://youtu.be/v1uyQZNg2vE" title="http://youtu.be/v1uyQZNg2vE">http://youtu.be/v1uyQZNg2vE</a> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, the future is definitely changing very rapidly. How do we keep up!</span><br /><br /></div>

30 Days of Google google Google glass videos Google #19: Google glasses? This is INCREDIBLE technology!

What are Google glasses?submitted by Fiona BealI have been reading bits and pieces about Google glasses, and today I thought I would investigate further. All I can say is ‘Wow, wow, wow’. it is quite mind-blowing. You wear them like glasses but they …

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Google #18: Create multiple browsers using Google Chrome

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the really superb things about Google Chrome is that you can get to create multiple browsers. I thought I might show you my understanding of this by way of a screencast made with Screencastomatic.</span><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This multiple browser feature of Google Chrome is something I find exceptionally useful - such a time saving feature.</span><br /><br /><br /></div><iframe frameborder="0" height="347" scrolling="no" src="http://screencast-o-matic.com/embed?sc=clXqIkVn2a&w=402&v=3" width="402"></iframe></div></div></div>

30 Days of Google Google #18: Create multiple browsers using Google Chrome

One of the really superb things about Google Chrome is that you can get to create multiple browsers. I thought I might show you my understanding of this by way of a screencast made with Screencastomatic.This multiple browser feature of Google Chrome …

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Google #16: Convert your blog to an editable file on your computer!

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgayQgUr_tBLZMib2W_RcnHqDH6ScfxxoC_-xWGJGXWDH9_Vy68kE-vIoi6IftCMbQur6lZgSJVDFVQMFSp9L4IohAAnUuMmVLArIghyGF92oIwxcD8SpKhmf8LvOXZkrbZpOcScaZZaCI/s1600-h/image%25255B12%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="42" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvL1wCZjshTJoBQYMa9R6Q5nSLjZefCSdLsFFpIYaP7s-IWNR5_lASltV968bRSVvW8uLC31EQt35Ne9KmSauuFnXGgRNqQPAg1cnLdq0PGbRXuCVbi8xzkHe0Dc71DRKeydawwMmpaMU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></div><i><br /></i><i>Submitted by Fiona Beal</i><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recently I have read a couple of intriguing blog posts about the importance of backing up your blog, and even using sites such as BlogBooker to make a PDF or printed book of your blog – and I thought that today would be the day to try some of these ideas. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><big><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>What is BlogBooker?</b></span></big> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">BogBooker advertises itself like this: "BlogBooker: From your Blog to a Book." <br /><a href="http://www.blogbooker.com/" title="http://www.blogbooker.com/">http://www.blogbooker.com/</a></span> <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDjnOzIGPvvpPpj64dg7-r_tMNW2S_B9-35abfS1em-F04vqNj-4aPybgV-1OiRjfo0vG0VhGT9qHFuvLVCEDIG19uQhCK8i3Rx2uOwE5V2QE6bUl-SKZZFI64PcCZRfoRKV7jc8crqWQ/s1600-h/image%25255B3%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerEC4OYlvUUTIL2imWIF65pe8o3SgeerX7AArUsf46TF79BvlC6C_PwtzYpLxtexIN8_3QlTf5SdQOF5oZreoqoHv4kQNBcrNpuJpk-3KnMQkw1SVsPEaz0qfyDEnbIPIexogT1vTDxc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The website says that “BlogBooker produces a high-quality PDF Blog Book from all your blog's entries and comments. Archives can be generated from any blog running on <a href="http://www.wordpress.org/">WordPress</a>, <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/">LiveJournal</a> or <a href="http://www.blogger.com/">Blogger</a>. The whole process takes about 3-4 minutes, depending on the size of your blog. Blogbooker is a free service offered thanks to donations.“ </span><br /><big><br /></big><big><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>How does it work?</b></span></big> <br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You submit an export file provided by your blog system to BlogBooker.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Your file is verified and all linked images are fetched.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Entries, comments and Images are assembled into a high-quality PDF.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The PDF is provided without any restriction and thus can be submitted for printing to third-parties. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">High quality images are only allowed if you donate.</span></li></ul><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The first step</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before you start you need to export your blog and download it as a .xml file and store it on your computer. Most blogs tell you how to do this under 'Settings'. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFIvEAsHYM4fVZjS0mr7s5YMkU8fw1YBocrLE0P9aj8pN3VOmQydXFoDpd0yNnw29L-otXDw0UXsmk-uFITC4ZG8J1c_5VuwSCyYbAKHoHBl2h5hBKyz1plpXVold17J7x_NTUeZD3liU/s1600-h/image%25255B7%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaR2gEhe2pyCEHawIidfSI32_jHg22pP0Dcs_qOd1PPGoi6jEGRWx7yeh53xWufQ13oElcwlk8Bq8yi2at5f0cUrVu6ZmazlIgxbjoie1rftgQpxu82WI6-ziyxGn8AyZvaQYo4SxUkaY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><big><br /></big><big><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>How to export your blog to Blogbooker</b></span></big> <br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once you open BlogBooker and add your blog details it helps you with this process. All you have to do is follow the prompts and make a few decisions about the final outcome.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>What happens if you are not satisfied with the PDF? </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what happened to me! I wasn’t happy with the layout but was unable to edit it as it was in PDF format. So then I set about finding a free PDF to Word Converter. I decided on ‘<i>Free PDF to Word Converter</i>’, downloaded it and set about the conversion process. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlcfvGxEuvg5Cne0lIy3UD0SV-37_nmQd4HJODAJzDR28uuMl3ZfycVcIYGgLRY9WrWGyhE6CLdjOSw0gb780OymuxIS_ikbfFs53d3T7FgoXJle7VD0kXPshPKVxHJKFeWCUxueLvVZA/s1600-h/image%25255B15%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatXfgcEuO9-pz9gvUOPvzy4UoDhYosQ9liQqzdYH00uFXU7MvZgPQiJcL2fReM8__Du3GOx26vT6oXmp8x0NR5OX-qAWasDQkY-uSNgb3tB6DKUX-a2W4tsjBMR2Il0C202ZLV15GveI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><big><br /></big><big><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The result was great. I could edit the pages and move the layouts and images around.</span></big> <br /><big><br /></big><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQDBYiMfbn0Qd7QtEYpuJhhUOeQOq4z1J8EXxbqRCIJAcaqHiWd7ar_C0BlXGtridVe8ZCUMd4uwmQ89X5CzHXYQyTr3FR6w1wCpHEAAim2CB9xziF9XloI5t3ODeirVgewtiOauEsfm8/s1600-h/image%25255B18%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFzILzLdNtoucEgPzi6D6APf9GtyfbPrm-qkVfxg4Puk65IYStDJtI1nVXUnhpPvKpdFqkWdfpgVn3cGdssV5Go3AzjJVZsSnYpXx6MbzFxjsj_yixEFgY1tZjJjdlUf9Ucm2QOAZ74Ok/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><br /><big><br /></big><big><b style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A SlideShare of the process!</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I thought I would document my journey with this process on a Slideshare. Here it is...</span></big><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/16263464" style="border-bottom: #ccc 0px solid; border-left: #ccc 1px solid; border-right: #ccc 1px solid; border-top: #ccc 1px solid; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="427"> </iframe> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/convert-your-blog-to-a-pdf-and-a-word-file" target="_blank" title="Convert your blog to a PDF and a Word file">Convert your blog to a PDF and a Word file</a> </strong>from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal" target="_blank">Fiona Beal</a></strong> </div><strong><br /></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Educational use</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. If you have a classroom blog you can export it, download it and give it to your students as a memory of their year with you at school.<br />2. You can also turn your blog PDF into a hard covered book format with one of the web services that do this. BlogBooker has a suggestion for this.<br />3. You can create a memoir of your year at school recording your journey in teaching year by year. Imagine how you'll feel at retirement one day with a collection of memories in this format.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Try it! It would be interesting to hear how you went about this. </span></div>

30 Days of Google Google #16: Convert your blog to an editable file on your computer!

Submitted by Fiona BealRecently I have read a couple of intriguing blog posts about the importance of backing up your blog, and even using sites such as BlogBooker to make a PDF or printed book of your blog – and I thought that today would be the day…

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#15: Using Google Docs & Drive to do your planning

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>30 Days of Google series #15</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span>Have you ever wondered if there is an easier way to do your daily/weekly/year planning and lessons than either writing them out by hand (worst scenario) or typing them out and keeping them on your own computer? One of the best applications to use for planning and preparing is Google Docs because you can then access your files from any computer as well as share them with anyone else who has access to the Internet. Amazing!</span><br /><strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></strong><strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Distinction between Google Docs and Google Drive</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google Docs, Spreadsheets, and Slides are known as productivity apps. They let you create different kinds of online documents, work on them in real time with other people, and store them in your Google Drive online — all for free.</span><br /><strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></strong><strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">How to plan a lesson using Google Docs</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly it is free. If you have a Gmail account you have a Google Docs account which contains a great selection of applications to use. Anything created using these applications can be saved in Google Docs and the finished products can even be downloaded as Microsoft Word documents should you so wish!</span><br /><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-JEPD3UDinWdzhUarB3SLY5_a-khAzMstAsNAgktUAGkEv8lxw1TBpdj1rukH_OjS9VAagLG6HUE-3NNNJdZvnOcS6rGZ2Al0yT6Jc1bjJTl3dAUOFoKJp1Lu3P1QkWp8j6rKmo5Tr5M/s1600-h/image%25255B4%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK1R2euOQE0EmlGDCNIuFs0ALokqy_6L6Dz6claFa8Fld_kNRgw_3DTAIn4DFjWMQYxrjRY_l-2AC4JopbA8MDRS6n-_NW4ttd5ScDcChgUlIH9mv0xvDmiLBW12T1kH3VTMi_sPDsLUU/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="247" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></blockquote> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. If you already have everything typed in Word or Excel etc. you can upload them to Google Drive. In that way you won’t have to carry around a flashdrive.  This means that everything you create will be available from any computer that you use and sign in to Google on.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. If you want to create a lesson plan but you don’t want to make a template take a look at the templates supplied by Google. Just ask Google for ‘Google Docs templates and you’ll be taken to: </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/templates" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" title="https://drive.google.com/templates">https://drive.google.com/templates</a>. <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then be specific and ask for ‘lesson plans’. You will be shown a whole selection to preview and choose from. Once you have decided on one and click on it it becomes part of your Google Docs where you can customize it.</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZz26dgDJiLsnf75jdbP6aArZA6u15jYk08JgdYR7K6JsQn5kqRBLGc4Vw-ksbDdkrc3v-dy3GoYR_sPa_PScAcNrhPP2lHtQigvrw7BhLDlAbuMV2m1jqShFS4PHY7QjqyzxAWkCbv50/s1600-h/image%25255B12%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcn9SJbTbA8NDjKUqiGJk4ZNOrOk3FFzAwthbT3NZ38TU3JTUFu_idpheIK2t8tCHDpL_jeK9A3q5NG88gnL_KSMCxWPUYUb1zCIkeBb8jfEz-o0eAAzTEpgJu9-k81B8KT8cgtOMN_rA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong></strong></span></blockquote><strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Keep all your documents in a folder in Google Drive</span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You’ll want to keep all your documents together in a folder. You could create a folder called, for example, Grade 3 English. In that folder you could put all the documents you need – calendar, timetable, year plan, term plan, week plan and daily plan. You could add your classlists, all your wordlists and assessment rubrics/sheets etc.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a)  To make a folder click the ‘Add folder’ button at the top of Google Drive.</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyoma3yWmEvFZnFzWRcoUiBBrHPmSrNdnECNexKve0NxKdukvb3GGQ73zhngdoUWH9zzyG3lgWGPcaHKSoYQ40z7tKhPrBnm0E4FeXIkdKCTLG-ojvy5CRzJ9oejzkxLHXe3GLsWzDk4s/s1600-h/image%25255B16%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="125" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2S34yHd8r-PYxLEjtM7oLKYxpDDHAyYdi8sYdW13Hjz4XZjnuRJLqf8kPmudsVRUts-PYf99flr41qaTY9bs_FAnRFTMCENiKRO2V4eATiK1cAr8H4LHyrr24uEI-9sCBuOlVuPnURts/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></blockquote><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">b) To place the documents you have created into this folder find the document, add a check in the box, right-click on the document and choose <i>Organise</i>. This will show you the list of folders you have created. Choose <i>Grade 3 English</i> and your document will be added to the folder.</span><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJeqCuD9TUl1j73Cp6FkVIwZm_MNhoq7PTDWon4A5r7qq2tOnxumxLbftowsZz4bRq4mm9bGSUNEyf65CCaQkGpjRPeCLmVNC3iJvL1N6oYGjd0CXVWP140jD6QuzhTjozpVp72715YGA/s1600-h/image%25255B27%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaw0yDEVZBJNNd6QqZq9Kmgs6TAwu5it2u6aV31m0tIj0XLRLrL_qOHoPWLPE1232BtF9vwjMNUqpwSSNUegM6YYUyRHZlUPqc5GGQHTcuPbVCRu1IP86QXsFONgMqcFUwL5VSCqPcEjk/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></blockquote><br /><blockquote><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9JRHIgKGwg7YnpnU03G46a7WKxbsBHLrT8l8-Zc5Qthit7htSYYK-V7AyDqCUaq4N88__X8RogB6mXRlF5-EBow_E5VsITX1zhl9Q2id3wLSN9wD61jvLPj5LynHWhipfvmC5a8D3iI/s1600-h/image%25255B23%25255D.png"> </a></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9JRHIgKGwg7YnpnU03G46a7WKxbsBHLrT8l8-Zc5Qthit7htSYYK-V7AyDqCUaq4N88__X8RogB6mXRlF5-EBow_E5VsITX1zhl9Q2id3wLSN9wD61jvLPj5LynHWhipfvmC5a8D3iI/s1600-h/image%25255B23%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWCtcGUgLOu0j_Zm3OpD5zu5GAOwVrKOgBbs5lGRZ8RoRo0KuB68IKHlFoaonJXIN0KycLKAYuqS7uDOfgvrA0B7FkKp33lntLD7C7VuV3-YUNglhw460eMsdXCghQadTjXJSBDcGzoAc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></blockquote><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Keep one another accountable </span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The beauty of it is that you can share every document with your colleagues so easily if you wanted to. What I like about this method is the accountability it could bring because if everyone in Grade 3 shared their documents you could see at a flash who wasn’t keeping up etc. etc. It could be shared with your HOD and Principal as well. </span><br /><strong style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Use Google Drive offline when you are at home</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It would be very easy to work at home or at school without using a flashdrive even if you didn’t have Internet. You can access Google Drive offline and work on it. Your computer will sync the next time you go online.   </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, without a doubt I would say this is the easiest (and cheapest) way for doing daily and weekly planning.</span><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">Further reading</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a) Tuesday Tech tips - <a href="https://sites.google.com/site/techtipstuesday/ideas-for-using-google-docs" target="_blank">Ideas for using Google Docs</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">b) Below is an interesting collection of things you can do using Google Docs in the Classroom started by Nik Peachy </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">using a Google Presentation</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Click on the image to be taken to the original Google presentation.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhn2vcv5_8323t58h3ft" target="_blank"><img alt="image" border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicgnRDGuKoFSvGywBYgoJXSgjZk4_HnS_lGbqc0ECOmk-JSKlYJuJE61yamjLd6euHndzI-qcKsVuwD-F8cOPfirqgqv7Ef5oI0_R9fN63v28g9tnJfccDtpgL_ok6EGYpX0PTamZ2MMA/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></a></span></div><br /><br /></div>

30 Days of Google #15: Using Google Docs & Drive to do your planning

30 Days of Google series #15Have you ever wondered if there is an easier way to do your daily/weekly/year planning and lessons than either writing them out by hand (worst scenario) or typing them out and keeping them on your own computer? One of the …

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30 Days of Google #14: How to create a live Hangout on Air

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtaTkG9lwifRUp-CC1t6f9xQ0NRk4eZsOwmelqeDPW5ELtT_E7u9amNvihL7lF7TuUvyfjWyDH1bFzQm-55Uh3i4lfjWs_gpeHSBb-wIg3K29Thfz0jaXFgwid_tA7XymFUNDgHQzLzGlP/s1600-h/image3.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk8TwfGW6k8U7J4vcOr7IAtxuZNUP-CgXZ3nbrGHJNEarBeZ7KQWHkTSqHBPsWK_qzG5Aj-aZiIyDSf0QXNs0ZALZhi-X5TTel1vfFsBu3cAcKyjaF-9soOwAt69mqk4PovavbrDYguaif/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been quite fascinated by the concept of a Google Hangout plus the concept of Google+ Hangouts On Air, which lets you broadcast to an unlimited audience.  I have experienced both and this is a real hit from Google. (I can’t say that I fully understand it all perfectly) yet I must admit! In this post I want to talk more about the live Hangout on Air and show how to create one. </span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></strong></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><strong>What exactly is a Google Hangout on Air?</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A normal Hangout can only have ten viewers but Hangouts On Air allow you to publicly broadcast your Hangouts on YouTube and your Google+ stream for anyone to watch. This is amazing – it’s like having your own live video show on the web! </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When broadcasting, your video will stream live on your YouTube account as well as on your Google+ stream. This means you can share your YouTube URL with anyone who wants to watch your broadcast live or they can watch in your Google+ stream. </span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><br /></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So what is the process then for a hangout on Air?</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is a brief summary:</span><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">1. </span></strong></span><span style="font-size: small;"><strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Create your hangout or schedule your hangout and invite people</span></strong>.<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you invite more than 25 people they won’t get a personal invite but<br />the invitation will rather just occur in your stream. </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also note that this is the time you have to decide whether it will be a Hangout on air. Check the button that enables Hangouts on Air.</span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>2</b>. <strong>Prepare your YouTube channel</strong>.</span>This might only be necessary the first time you use a Google+ hangout</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>3</b>. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><strong>Edit Your Hangout When Complete</strong></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After your Hangout On Air, you can edit the video in your YouTube account(connected to your Google+ account). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Simply go to your </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/my_videos" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Video Manager</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> page and click on the Video Editor link on top of the page.</span><br /><h5><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">4. Share Your Recorded Hangout</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Once you’re happy with your video, you can then share it just like any other YouTube video.</span></h5><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>A Slideshare on how to create a live Hangout on Air</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Please take a look at this SlideShare entitled, ‘<i>How to create a Google+ Hangout on Air' </i>and which has more detail on how to create a Hangout on Air.</span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15565646" style="border-bottom: #ccc 0px solid; border-left: #ccc 1px solid; border-right: #ccc 1px solid; border-top: #ccc 1px solid; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="427"> </iframe> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/how-to-conduct-a-google-hangout-on-air" target="_blank" title="How to conduct a Google+ Hangout on air">How to conduct a Google+ Hangout on air</a> </strong>from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal" target="_blank">Fiona Beal</a></strong> </div><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Extra reading</span></strong><br /><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-hangouts-on-air-guide/" title="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-hangouts-on-air-guide/">http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/google-hangouts-on-air-guide/</a><br /><a href="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/youtube-live-streaming/" title="http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/youtube-live-streaming/">http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/youtube-live-streaming/</a><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/live/all" title="http://www.youtube.com/live/all">http://www.youtube.com/live/all</a><br /><a href="http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2012/05/how-to-hangouts-on-air/" title="http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2012/05/how-to-hangouts-on-air/">http://sproutsocial.com/insights/2012/05/how-to-hangouts-on-air/</a><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br /><br /></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #14: How to create a live Hangout on Air

I have been quite fascinated by the concept of a Google Hangout plus the concept of Google+ Hangouts On Air, which lets you broadcast to an unlimited audience.  I have experienced both and this is a real hit from Google. (I can’t say that I fully und…

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30 Days of Google #13: Get the hang of a Google+ hangout (plus webinar recording)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_VsP27fZOV26Up2FySsh4EIDCTkR6q3HYtf8fnc4AKZD7I5ELMkYEdXQDZxYcMENKKNmY-2EL2WtPIuki60UP2-Ec2a1r0KavhNRVgg5BMrfqzteUpO8A11vRG84dGjptywbJ6OGdlKM/s1600-h/image%25255B7%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5jqxpgA1ktf8GsTlIuG6BuIYHAcst6tIPxd913LTXy5nZ_p5Gi7U_Jl3n7jD2TeF1ofOqTOQXA32ih4IO9IbcBCVxa5jyDUVzrOKadziDVAfJDqInopuHxDlcBz0ksJJTTdHLPbDBfxg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="240" /></a></div><br /><u><br /></u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>What is a Google hangout?</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google+ is Google's new social networking tool. I have only just discovered its amazing potential since attending the Google Teacher Academy in New York in October. Google has put a lot of funding into developing Google+ and they are committed to making it work well for education, so it will just get better and better I am sure. Once you have created a </span><a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Create-Circles-in-Google-Plus" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">circle of friends</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in Google+ you can choose to hang out with them on Google+. This allows you to video chat, IM chat, watch YouTube videos together, and more. </span><br /><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></u><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Summary of benefits</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google Hangouts are part of Google+, Google's new free social networking tool. On a Hangout 10 people (possible 15 on Google Apps) can:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*video chat</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*IM (instant message) chat</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*watch YouTube videos together</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*collaborate on a Google Doc</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*use a whiteboard collaboratively</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*add effects for fun</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*record the Hangout directly on YouTube</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*live stream for more viewers</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*A minimum of two people </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*and more… </span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A Slideshare showing the steps</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This slideshare was used in the SchoolNet webinar of the same name and shows the steps in creating a hangout.</span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15447237" style="border-bottom: #ccc 0px solid; border-left: #ccc 1px solid; border-right: #ccc 1px solid; border-top: #ccc 1px solid; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="427"> </iframe> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/get-the-hang-of-a-google-hangout" target="_blank" title="Get the hang of a Google+ hangout">Get the hang of a Google+ hangout</a> </strong>from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal" target="_blank">Fiona Beal</a></strong></span> </div><strong><u><br /></u></strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">Webinar recording:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last week SchoolNet had a webinar whih was presented by me (Fiona Beal) on 'Get the hang of a Google Hangout'. Here is the recording</span><u>. </u><br /><a href="http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p6kgz1ndmhz/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: underline;">http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p6kgz1ndmhz/</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (22 mins)</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ideas for using a hangout in the the classroom</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Read a story</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Bring in an expert/guest speaker/author|</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Share from a Slideshare</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Homework tutoring</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Professional Development meeting</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Work on a project together</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Virtual penpals</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Global classroom discussions</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Career Day wit panelists</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Attend other hangouts (Google has a whole library of hangouts)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Extended discussion on a class topic</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Subject-related hangouts</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Conduct workshops and seminars</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Additional reading and viewing</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">a) A tutorial </span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Please note that Google updates its products continually so some features in this video might look different.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7K06lHu4gDk" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>b) Further Reading</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">*<a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Google%2B-Hangouts">How to use Google Hangouts</a> </span><br />*<a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Google%2B-Hangouts-for-Teaching" style="background-color: #f9f7f1; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How to Use Google+ Hangouts for Teaching</a><br />*<a href="http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/events/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How to create a Google event</a><br /><div><br /></div></div></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #13: Get the hang of a Google+ hangout (plus webinar recording)

What is a Google hangout?Google+ is Google's new social networking tool. I have only just discovered its amazing potential since attending the Google Teacher Academy in New York in October. Google has put a lot of funding into developing Google+ and …

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30 Days of Google #12: How to send a message and share a circle using Google+

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google circles are a feature of Google+ and they can be very useful for keeping in contact with a group of people. For example I have a circle called Google PD clan.</span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">How I send a message to the Google PD clan</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whenever I want to send something to that group this is what I would do:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. In my Google+ stream I would write a message. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitljOIfpvghJtSGh-VaS-eumP9zkyHD0HYkHhixo-ZXjEG8Afe7LBASl9gR85uIJwnLd0F9FA7yleFaRJv3VedrCS9ZmT2PNuPtvl6O11gevMQY1PD9Xi6kyfP8BTvA8ps5A55iWakkHE/s1600-h/image4%25255B1%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV7ize3J6u8YG1f3E0gzYvqrQma08_obilu94-j983Zj6cA-zAE2MegFsWiXG6m-xRGtGnqSkTHirKPmf4vBCTUvALXGHsjGztcdtSOyQN8_mnQDQgIX1_1JwS_Iv5bSAOLJ1AWd08L5A/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Decide which circle or person I am going to send it to, select them and press ‘Share’ (in this case to a circle called  Google PD clan)</span>.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdDH_KeC8bMidwkpQQ3o6c0WEpHppcxBIlDUN88ISE6dmI8k3afKktyV05FSolz6jIlox60m8xh1jGS0tS344eoxMnLSRQotswiSxJS2geIwpI7Ur7QrLpboNB692KdkpbIlMQEQafpN8/s1600-h/image8.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_0DddR6meyhMuKl_zZ1OjAU4if7fqCYHS6XjiuAGAlBJAvZxtnPPakR8CIS5f4xa7UDcgcSlmuMey6D8_7eYGZarE90qNkTTXVKHoezx0U3kVTymha7oobJ5ZpRyrjBqr3KUS83-_rog/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>How would I share the whole circle with the Google PD clan? </b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If one creates a specific circle for a specific purpose (such as my 'Google PD clan' circle),  I could actually share my my whole circle with the group members.  To do this I would choose the option to '<i>share a circle'</i>.  The group members would then receive the shared circle option/invite but would have to accept it and name it.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPDjH8pPWmaekMSBvFaWo17r21S0gxjZCJTd_0MjbCTCzrbkfVAt0mEh-AlFmi7PA-aS_DqermKMjk6xTWIEA6zg9IpUvL1JfoK8J8c7CLxIRBrEHQr-ReCliHghVh8ovY0sAHswQPByE/s1600-h/image35.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipLBUgR-zj4CzWCxSvQYx1-twd2GFx1lzyNNvHdtKqH8Ar4Lex1tlHUmmFrqFOPyKgK9RXP2j2G1qc-saNP-4LrfuGzARxpYNfdq27wHiDnx8jPqV7lifkhYgtWbp-RQrKUR7qGevLXbI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="242" /></a></div><br /><u><br /></u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why not try sharing a circle?</span><br /><u><br /></u></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #12: How to send a message and share a circle using Google+

Google circles are a feature of Google+ and they can be very useful for keeping in contact with a group of people. For example I have a circle called Google PD clan.How I send a message to the Google PD clanWhenever I want to send something to that g…

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30 Days of Google #11: How to create a new circle in Google+

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google+ works on the concept of circles each with the level of privacy that you decide on. This post shows you how to create a circle after you have completed your profile in Google+.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. Make sure you have joined Google+ (on the top left of your Gmail account) and have filled in your profile.After doing that go to your Google+ page and go down the left side till you get to Circles. Click on ‘Create a circle’. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqEdYRP8lnZD3Dnrxu9zhGStq95PBwN_cqoufDOMSIREQfbyzovEKuaY39_ufKZB_62k3lwDfDBV6qQnEBW_f8CkgM-aUPysjlNyVKhvjlJ9GjDTGnUQO2AoDeD_erET4lBDTJLV91g_c/s1600-h/image_thumb62.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image_thumb[6]" border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJJfGCr7qYXAGsTB_LPLX02-fobenzVEG3ovt88JbhpvBXCq6KleYPfWWPkZpPdP4l8soIt4DVGB94lcfu3hG6F7bN4UMEKwgM69sZf8iBydfOyoMv4iMu8gkRK_WSanL4rYECF-AN9t8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image_thumb[6]" width="242" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. Give your circle a name i.e. My technology friends</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDvCsQnIp0XYBrGlAxnMCoq_xaBhxWzvT8aE7UItCl43HMYj1w1M3u4W7m9FqtjABbBG_fRdNVO6X1mvKIACM28U0syLwIyj3fAGjKLPjcR5thBnl0V0dbtJRotC1Xgwikm34dx78I7xo/s1600-h/image_thumb82.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image_thumb[8]" border="0" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGRWa2ezgbIdPNuksQVNVJYxjorvd9QF-rL9USzoSyoJ890zCmU8_oYuQ_NBCRhfaX0V7v86bES_9WhBcMhDKWXbJ6qVccuXp7lgkHRwaByLcOfn4fdMwzZMu-gsBGvsRtbNO35dTBfo8/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image_thumb[8]" width="242" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Now choose how you are going to find people for your circle. Click on ‘Add a new person’</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbinMc06TcGxHFZEA63PFSSrcNdU2e7ecnVRuIWf868r0aLoR9K2kYGbQoxMoOtJ2eSTPpsp_WHk64kGiQqcV1OTiNx9p3UZs4k3GbRViHqbAWWtw0j57qVqV7ZezK2CiQnW411r0yqjE/s1600-h/image_thumb102.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image_thumb[10]" border="0" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKRoGBh7kT2hvaMQwiYepOXFb-jgpUqqbdPM-MulCKEmkYuL-63FC_5IUPCHDHIdst1FrRqAFEbq5IMHeie3zdabtS9UjiNLnlnkx_c2qav00Imciko7GqhANItzG8FAi0mpcF-5oiYSI/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image_thumb[10]" width="242" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. A number of selections will come up in which case you click on the picture you recognise.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZQDe-ZTxa_G7s_f9TcHYDT4BXA9MDAZCrkwpy8d6_3HW7ReTUT7NstCoZTYhXg0A5mDxMSOGTjHElFZDoVhAuPXPeOpVOgAiv9b9alAbUkjs0TSIRCMinO7RA_Ow_f3nmjM9PPW1hrNA/s1600-h/image_thumb122.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image_thumb[12]" border="0" height="147" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOzIROZQr9g1FL9odxoJBr1cGDtVBy0zjfMrho62LAl-Ok5BMgs14ZKBXmUdrBtvXLHuVo6gkZWi9QI22-B0kAboGyC2M2XkmZMbW4YM7ERZXVyjQxffqjdRmHSYUbnJBj2AtLttSyMo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image_thumb[12]" width="242" /></a></div><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. However if you don’t know the person which is possible in our case rather use the email address and only one person will show up. Click on the name and add that person.</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRuQxANVbx_GJGTjfuH8VP5P31Eu3O5drk7AXKmXK11Ywc5BBiKFIBstTjbDUOdt2aZ2sCcV1lx4K8ps3vuSEtZIvcvm5Vpw_2qgwRSPWw682F3bwpqYoSvYTFmKIHPcEkmcNpRcsilDU/s1600-h/image_thumb152.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image_thumb[15]" border="0" height="122" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCVZ8WyOGb4X3FuLUubuWzO1nLD1HsPlFyTCTM7utxQ1FS6FGfwNfBKhf21VqNBgf2rrTsCab-GQ4Y7glwnG9k6jANZ_4iimw0eRBWrXqHTUEINrIO4wmjPQJ47G7oCPt9CUmH-5cUtuY/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image_thumb[15]" width="242" /></a></div><br /><strong><br /></strong><strong><br /></strong><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why not create a circle following the steps above? (Choose a few folk that you know have gmail addresses.)  Then send a message to that circle. To reinforce your learning about circles, here is a video that explains it really well.</span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QNXd9DAhcZw" width="420"></iframe><br />Further reading<br /><a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Create-Circles-in-Google%2B">How to create circles in Google+</a></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #11: How to create a new circle in Google+

Google+ works on the concept of circles each with the level of privacy that you decide on. This post shows you how to create a circle after you have completed your profile in Google+.1. Make sure you have joined Google+ (on the top left of your Gmail…

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30 Days of Google #10: The versatility of Google Docs via @soxnevad

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love exploring Susan Oxenvad’s amazing blog </span><a href="http://d97cooltools.blogspot.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cool Tools for Teachers</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> – do visit it and also follow Susan on Twitter. On her blog I came across a post</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> with this this brilliant representation of ‘<a href="http://d97cooltools.blogspot.com/2012/03/heres-glog-to-create-visual.html" target="_blank">Great ways of using Google Documents</a>’. Not only does she illustrate how amazing and versatile Google Docs is for learning in the classroom, but she also demonstrates a fabulous way to use a Glogster for giving out information visually.  If you click on each part of the glog you will be taken to a post explaining that particular section of Google Docs. I have looked through those and they are great posts.  I am SO impressed with this! How about you? </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Susan's glog gives the option to embed, so that is what I will so! Don't forget to visit the original post <a href="http://d97cooltools.blogspot.com/2012/03/heres-glog-to-create-visual.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br /><br /><br /><iframe frameborder="0" height="758" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://edu.glogster.com/glog.php?glog_id=2673930&scale=58" style="overflow: hidden;" width="560"></iframe></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #10: The versatility of Google Docs via @soxnevad

I love exploring Susan Oxenvad’s amazing blog Cool Tools for Teachers – do visit it and also follow Susan on Twitter. On her blog I came across a post with this this brilliant representation of ‘Great ways of using Google Documents’. Not only does sh…

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30 Days of Google #9: Google Apps in the classroom

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xkTJwk_NxH6QHGPS1__XL1OEOx6RnyaP597F8gznBN59fYmRhvko7LKzEM2Bg3dMH3y9ANVqQTXbMPPXXCHGITlH9xhsDccvaTffGCy-G5p6jpFxSmkLRfwiYIrkJB2cqtCNBgrfhZY/s1600/google-apps.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xkTJwk_NxH6QHGPS1__XL1OEOx6RnyaP597F8gznBN59fYmRhvko7LKzEM2Bg3dMH3y9ANVqQTXbMPPXXCHGITlH9xhsDccvaTffGCy-G5p6jpFxSmkLRfwiYIrkJB2cqtCNBgrfhZY/s200/google-apps.JPG" width="181" /></a></div>I<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">t’s incredible what you come across on the Internet. While I was researching today I came across a fantastic video presentation (webinar) showing <b>32 ways of  using Google Apps in the classroom</b>. I am very keen to learn all I can about Google Apps so I immediately bookmarked it and thought I would share it here. This webinar was presented by Julia Stilitz, Google Apps for Education Team @juliastiglitz</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The write-up says, ”<i>This session will demonstrate some of the most powerful ways that teachers can leverage Google Apps tools in their classrooms. From using Google Docs for collaborative lesson planning with grade level colleagues, to using Google Chat to have a virtual guest lecturer in your classroom, to giving your students a formative assessment through Google forms, this session will show you had to get the most out of Google Apps.</i>” </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AI1CNpa0rU&feature=related&safe=active" target="_blank">32 ways of using Google Apps by Julia Stilitz</a> on YouTube</span><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-AI1CNpa0rU" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was lucky enough to find the Slideshare presentation of the same video/webinar (uploaded by someone else) so that you can just view the slides without sound should you so wish.</span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/10765993" style="border-bottom: #ccc 0px solid; border-left: #ccc 1px solid; border-right: #ccc 1px solid; border-top: #ccc 1px solid; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="427"> </iframe> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/panji12/32-ways-to-use-google-apps-in-the-classroom" target="_blank" title="32 Ways to Use Google Apps in the Classroom">32 Ways to Use Google Apps in the Classroom</a> </strong>from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/panji12" target="_blank">Muchamad Subekti</a></strong> </div></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #9: Google Apps in the classroom

It’s incredible what you come across on the Internet. While I was researching today I came across a fantastic video presentation (webinar) showing 32 ways of  using Google Apps in the classroom. I am very keen to learn all I can about Google Apps so …

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30 Days of Google #8: Get to know Google+ (Includes a webinar recording)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VnEoJxTV6YXU3kBsWig0aFO_3V2-1v3ePkb5M0kqSIppqULes3r4sqS16pjQuyiikrochx1DmJaeSBOfMO136KEiB3vFEbTbnaLeNmv5txxlbHC9XgdYpN-aWoneCdQ3kivvxO_HAQ7x/s1600/google+.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8VnEoJxTV6YXU3kBsWig0aFO_3V2-1v3ePkb5M0kqSIppqULes3r4sqS16pjQuyiikrochx1DmJaeSBOfMO136KEiB3vFEbTbnaLeNmv5txxlbHC9XgdYpN-aWoneCdQ3kivvxO_HAQ7x/s200/google+.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 7.68pt; text-indent: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Social networking is a way of life for most teachers today. It is a marvelous way for us to share and learn about new ideas that can really enhance our teaching. We know about social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for example, all designed to let you share up-to-the second updates, ideas, thoughts, links and media with your colleagues. But have you discovered Google+? This is a social network of note that I have only recently explored. One thing I am discovering about Google is that they usually bring a very creative and different slant, with additional features, to something that others might be doing; and the result is very pleasing.  These are a few features which makes Google different from the other social networking networks.</span></div><div style="direction: ltr; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-top: 7.68pt; text-indent: 0in; unicode-bidi: embed; word-break: normal;"></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">Google </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">has integrated Google+ </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">with its </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">other services (and continues to do so) e.g.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-indent: -0.38in;">Search</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-indent: -0.38in;">YouTube</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic; text-indent: -0.38in;">Gmail</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;"> and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">more</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;"> Google</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.38in;">+ is already built into services you use every day.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google+ uses the concept of<i> circles </i>(groups)<i>, </i>and this<i> </i>differentiates it from </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Facebook for example as it allows users </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-style: italic;">precise control over who sees what. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Google includes the free use of 'hangouts' with Google+ and this feature has incredible positive implications for education. </span></li></ul><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Slideshare presentation</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a Slideshare on Google +. It covers:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">•</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;">What is Google +</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">•Highlights of interesting features<br />•Circles<br />•How to write a post<br />•How to receive a notification<br /><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;">•</span><span style="text-indent: -0.38in;">Benefits to education</span> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />'Google Hangouts' will receive a post of its own later. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="356" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" scrolling="no" src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/15264977" style="border-width: 1px 1px 0; border: 1px solid #CCC; margin-bottom: 5px;" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" width="427"> </iframe> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 5px;"><strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal/get-to-know-google-plus" target="_blank" title="Get to know Google plus!">Get to know Google plus!</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/fionabeal" target="_blank">Fiona Beal</a></strong> <br /><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Webinar recording</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This Slideshare was presented as part of a SchoolNet Adobe Connect webinar on Google+. If you would like to know what was said, here is the webinar recording: </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://meet78641452.adobeconnect.com/p8k2og7qufw/">Get to know Google+</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Further reading</b></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many very interesting posts have been written on Google+. Here is a list of some of them:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1) <a href="http://mostateteachers.typepad.com/missouri_state_teachers_a/2011/07/google-plus-what-does-it-mean-for-education.html">Google + - what does it mean for education?</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2)</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://mostateteachers.typepad.com/missouri_state_teachers_a/2011/07/google-plus-what-does-it-mean-for-education.html">27 ways to use Google+ to support education</a> (a presentation)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3) <a href="http://edreach.us/2011/07/06/circle-me-up-exploring-circles-in-google/">Circle me up - exploring circles in Google+</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4) <a href="http://40%20google%20plus%20tips%20for%20newbies/">40+ Google tips for newbies</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5) <a href="http://www.chrisbrogan.com/googleplus50/">The Google+ 50</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">6) <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwnJ5Bl4kLI&feature=youtu.be">The Google plus project - a quick look</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7) <a href="http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit?id=135530">A livebinder of Google+ resources</a></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">8) <a href="http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/professorsconsider-%20classroom-uses-for-google-plus/32131">Classroom uses for Google+</a></span></div></div></div>

30 Days of Google 30 Days of Google #8: Get to know Google+ (Includes a webinar recording)

Social networking is a way of life for most teachers today. It is a marvelous way for us to share and learn about new ideas that can really enhance our teaching. We know about social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for example, all desi…

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