In part 1 of the Google Docs tour, we walked through the Google Doc home screen. In this tutorial we walk through how to create a new Google Doc, some of the formatting options available to us, and how to upload an existing document into Google Docs.
In this two part post, we take a look at getting started with Google Doc’s. This is a good place to start if your new to Google Docs and already have your Google Account. Check out this post if you need help setting up your Google Account.
In this first video we take a look at the Google Docs home screen. By the time you finish it, you should have a good overview of the Google home screen and how to navigate around it.
If you’re a math teacher, or know of one looking for real world examples of how math is used, then check out Khan Academy’s Pixar in a Box.
Pixar Animation Studios is the animation studio responsible for innovative digital animation movies like Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc, Cars,…and the list goes on.
Pixar teamed up with the Khan Academy to provide free lessons showing how Pixar uses math to solve real world problems in the creation of it’s movies. Each lesson includes video introducing students to a different problem Pixar’s animators experienced. It then shows how the animators used different math concepts to solve the problem and the student is given an opportunity to play with the concept through different simulations. By the end of the lesson, the animators explain how the match solved the problem and the student gains an understanding between the math and it’s application.
I can remember back in high school learning about geometry and algebra. I wasn’t very interested in math because I never understood how it could be useful. To me, it was just a bunch of numbers and symbols and steps I had to follow…until Mrs. Shattuck. We were studying the Pythagorean Theorem and Mrs. Shattuck explained how we could determine the the school’s flagpole height by by using the Pythagorean Theorem and walked us through the process. This was a huge “A-ha” moment for me and suddenly the math made sense.
Pixar in a Box and Khan Academy are a great example of how educators can engage students by connecting the dots between theory and real life application. When planning your next lesson, think about how you can show it’s real world application. It might make the difference between an engaged student or one just passing the time in your class.
Interactive whiteboard, also referred to as a “smartboard”
Are you looking for tutorials on how to use your smartboard? I frequently hear about teachers who have been part of a smartboard deployment, but they were never shown how to use it, so it sits unused in their class. I’ve even heard of some teachers using their smartboard as another dry erase board!
I’m using “smartboard” as a general term to mean an interactive whiteboard. The two main companies making interactive whiteboards are:
I found a series of videos created by FUSE school covering the basics of using a SMART Technologies smartboard. Check out this series and post comments of other smartboard resources you think teachers should know about.
Camtasia Studio is a screen recording and video editing software. Camtasia lets you record your screen and voice as you demonstrate applications on your computer. If you’re using the PC version of Camtasia, you can use the PowerPoint plugin to record and share your presentations. Camtasia not only lets you record your screen, but also lets you easily cut and edit the video, import other video and audio files, and overlay text, callouts, and transitions. Once you finish editing your video, Camtasia makes it easy to share your video by exporting it to your school’s Learning Management System (LMS), as an mp4 video file to embed in PowerPoint, or publish directly to Youtube, Vimeo, and Google Drive.
6 WAYS TO USE CAMTASIA IN YOUR CLASSROOM
Download Camtasia to try it for free for 30 days. At the end of of the trial period it will lock and you’ll be asked to purchase to continue using it. At the time of writing this, Techsmith is offering great educational discounts. Using the educational discount, the PC version is around $179.00, and the Mac version is around $75.00. Once you purchase the software, you own it and can make as many videos as you would like. Please note the above link is an affiliate link, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a small commission if you decide to make a purchase. If you do, thanks in advance.
You can use Camtasia to do the following:
- Software Demonstration
Demonstrate how to use a software and share it with your class. - Flip Your Classroom
Record your PowerPoint lectures and post them online for your students to view outside of the classroom. - Record Lessons
Record lessons that students can access at anytime and replay as necessary. This works well for ESL and special needs students. - Provide Feedback
Provide feedback to students by recording audio, or video and send it to them in an email, or upload it to an LMS. - Lessons for Substitute
Leave messages, or recorded lessons for your substitute while you’re out. - Audio Recorder
Camtasia can record and export audio…it isn’t limited to just recording video. Once you record your audio track, you can export it into an mp3 sound file to use for lessons or for a podcast.
Next, lets look at why you should be using Camtasia and some resources.
In this post you will learn what a Google Account is, why you want one, and step by step instructions for how to set one up.
WHAT IS A GOOGLE ACCOUNT
A Google Account is the free account you use to sign-in to all things Google. This includes Google Docs, Drive, Gmail, YouTube, Maps, Calendar, Blogger, etc. Before you can start using any of Google’s services, you will need to sign-up for this account.
WHAT YOU NEED TO SIGN-UP
If you are using a computer to sign-up, you will need a web browser and a connection to the Internet.
If you are using a mobile phone or tablet, you will need the web browser on that device and a connection to the Internet either through a wifi hotspot, or a data plan through your mobile device carrier.
Lets walk through the setup process.
GOOGLE DOCS & DRIVE OVERVIEW
Google Docs & Drive is a free online productivity service consisting of a number of apps you access through your web browser or mobile device. These apps let you create, store, and collaborate on digital documents . The suite of apps include:
- Google Drive– This is 15GB of free online storage where all of the documents you create in Google Docs live. You can store and view a variety of file types in Google Drive so this becomes a great tool for accessing your files from a variety of devices. Click here for more information on the supported file types.
- Google Docs – An online word processing program. This is Google’s version of Microsoft Word. You can create and format text documents from scratch, or from a number of pre-formatted templates. You can share your text documents with other people and collaborate in real time together. It also provides you version control in case you need to rollback a version. You can download your Google Doc into a variety of formats including PDF and as a Word document.
- Google Sheets – An online spread sheet program. This is Google’s version of Excel. You can create spreadsheets for tracking and manipulating data. Just like Excel, Google Sheets gives you the ability to create formulas to crunch numbers and the ability to create graphs to illustrate your data. Just like Google Docs, Google Sheets can be shared with other people so you can collaborate in real time, and it has version control and can be downloaded into a variety of formats including as an Excel spreadsheet.
- Google Slides – An online slide presentation tool. This is Google’s version of PowerPoint. You can create visual presentation from scratch or from a variety of templates and then share your presentation with other’s so you can collaborate together. When your ready, you can invite others and give your presentation online. You can download your Google Slides into a variety of formats including as a PowerPoint presentation.
- Google Forms – An online web form used to collect information. Forms gives you the ability to create online surveys and tests which you can send to people, or embed in a webpage to collect information. The information gathered through the form is automatically stored in a Google Sheet so you can manipulate the collected data.
Read on to find out what you should know about Google Docs & Drive, and how to get started.
Interesting numbers around technology in the classroom. While many schools have dropped technology into the classroom, teachers are still unsure how to use the technology with their students.
Find more education infographics on e-Learning Infographics
I just came across this article in the Journal talking about a new wearable device called the Bird and had to share. This thing is cool….it is like Minority Report for the classroom!
It is a small device you were on your finger that weighs two-thirds of an ounce. It reflects your position in space, pointing direction, hand pressure, voice commands, and pressure levels….this basically means it can track you as you move through the classroom and take input from touch or voice.
If used with a projector, it turns any surface into a touch screen, and lets the wearer interact with the screen from up to 25 feet away.
It is made by an Israeli company called MUV Interactive and they say it will sell for about $250. Pretty cool stuff!
MUV wearable tech- Dream, Touch, Play! from SHIBUI on Vimeo.
I consider Dropbox one of the top 3 technologies every 21st Century educator and student should know about.
Dropbox is a online storage service providing you 2GB of free storage. Store your data (documents, photos, videos, music, etc.) in Dropbox’s cloud storage, and it automatically syncs those files across all your other Dropbox enabled devices. Gone are the days of trying to find a document you know you have saved somewhere, but can’t remember which USB flash drive, or computer its on.
This means you can work on a document on your home computer, save it in Dropbox, open the file on your mobile device while your on the go, and when you get to work its in your work computer’s Dropbox folder with all the changes you’ve made. You don’t have to lug around a computer, external hard-drives, or USB flahs drives just to be able to access your files.
Dropbox also makes it simple to collaborate. Sharing a file is as easy as creating a folder in Dropbox and sharing it with your collaborators. Any document placed in that folder is now accessible to the other people.
If you need more than 2GB of space, you can upgrade to Dropbox’s larger storage plans for an additional cost.
Reasons to use Dropbox
- Free storage – 2GB free storage. This saves space on your computer and your mobile devices. Of course they make it easy for you to pay if you would like more storage above 2GB.
- Automatic Back Ups – If you keep files stored on your computer’s hard drive and it crashes, your files are gone. If you keep your files in Dropbox, they are always backed up and you can get to them from another computer. Storing your files on a physical external hard drive is good, but it is only delaying the eventual hard drive crash…even physical external hard drives crash at some point. Online storage is constantly backed up so your data is always safe and accessible.
- Sharing & Editing – Dropbox makes it easy for you to share your documents with others. This is really handy when you have a large file that can’t attach to an email. With Dropbox, you just send the person a link to the file and they are able to access it.
- Version Control – If your working with a team of people, and they are all making edits, version control is a nice feature if you ever need to rollback to a previous version.
- Mobile – Files stored in Dropbox are accessible through your smartphone and tablet using the free Dropbox app.
- Sync Across Devices – When you upload, or change a file in Dropbox, the change is sync’d across all your devices.
- Mac and PC Friendly – Works seamlessly on both platforms.
There are other free online storage tools out there, but I recommend starting with Dropbox because it is quick to setup and simple to use. When you install the Dropbox software on your computer it creates a folder called “Dropbox”. All you have to do is drag the files you want synced into this folder.
If you know how to drag a file into a folder, then you’ll have no problem getting up and running with Dropbox, and never worry again about losing a file.