This is a nice little preview video to show you how the new Google Drive window will look in the near future.
Category Archives: Google
Google Apps in the Classroom
All of our staff and students have access to Google accounts. Within those accounts are some powerful collaborative and content creation tools. Check out this presentation by Julia Stiglitz and let me know what you think.
Using Google Calendar to make appointments
There are times where you need to meet with students and/or parents for conferences. Google Calendar now lets you use Appointment Slots to do just that. The video below will get you started.
Cleaning Up YouTube
NOTE: The post below was from an email that Jacovia Cartwright sent out. It’s a great tool that I thought was worth sharing here. Thanks for letting me repost this, Jacovia.
Teachers,
In our lessons we sometimes use YouTube as a resource. YouTube is great, but the most annoying thing about YouTube is that it comes with ads on most videos. The ad’s are at times not that bad, especially since you can skip some of them within 5 seconds. Then there are the ads that require you to watch the whole 2 minute clip and at times can be inappropriate for the students to see. This might be an issue you are facing daily and I thought I would offer a little assistance with working around the ads.
My favorite process is using “SafeShare”
The website is “www.safeshare.tv”
THE PROCESS
1. Open safeshare in one tab and in a different tab find the video that you want to show on youtube.
2. Once you are playing the Youtube video you want, copy the URL either from clicking the share button under the youtube video, or copying from the URL bar at the top.
3. Once it’s copied go to the safeshare tab and paste the URL in the blank space that reads “Paste a YouTube Link”.
4.Then click the green Generate button. You will then see a link that says “take me to the safe view”. Click that link and you’re all set with an ad free video.
If you see a low quality video make sure that you have clicked the gear icon on the bottom right so the video shows in the highest quality possible. I have included a screenshot of the page below as a reference to make sure you are on the correct website. You won’t be able to click the image on this email to see the video I used. Here is a link to the safeshare video that I used for this process. http://safeshare.tv/w/nppOxTXRdX
There are other options out there like chrome browser plugins and a service called ViewPure. I have found that the safeshare process has been the most consistent for me and I have not had any issues like the others that I’ve tried. I hope this helps you out in some way with your lessons.
How about using Google Hangout for virtual field trips?
Check out some upcoming field trips others have planned that you might can join.
Want to create your own? Let me know what I can do to help out. Creating a Google Hangout is just a few clicks from your school mail window.
Create, Share, and Embed a Google Calendar
Have you wanted to find a way to have a calendar on your blog that you could share out with others to follow along for assignment reminders, practice schedules, testing dates, or more? You can do it with the calendars found in your school Google account. Let Richard Byrne walk you through it with this short video.
Technology Can Make a Difference
While this short video is promoting Chromebooks, it shows three great uses of the Google tools all of our staff and students have available to them every day of the year no matter what kind of device they use. Let me know if something catches your eye and you’d like some help implementing it.
Send a Tech Care Package
Have you ever had that moment where you wished you could just email directions on how to do something using technology and not have to create the directions yourself? Well, Google has made a site just for that purpose. You can go find the needed directions for the most used processes and email them from the Google site. You’ll find everything from copy and paste to how to do a video chat. Check it out. You never know. You might just find something useful for you and your students.
Using Google Drive in Your Classroom
Looking for creative ways to integrate the Google Drive suite of tools into your classroom? Check out the interactive poster (Glogster) that Susan Oxnevad made to demonstrate ways she uses the tools. Mouse over each area and click on each to be taken to another page with more details.
As always, if you want some help with any of it, shoot me a message. I’ll be happy to work with you.
Adding YouTube Videos to your Sidebars
Below is a video tutorial I created of the step by step directions on adding a YouTube video to your blog’s sidebar using widgets.