G-Suite Updates of Awesomeness!

Bonus Post! Focus: G-Suite for Education Updates

Great googly-moogly, there are some amazing updates to G Suite recently and I wanted to make sure you knew all about them! Here are some short overviews of new releases or updates.

Image acquired from: All Saints Catholic School

Team Drive

First things first, those of you that use your Google Drive via the web view have probably noticed the new Team Drive option that appeared in your Drive this week.

A Team Drive is a shared space where: A Team Drive would be a great place for a curriculum team or grade level team to house their work as it is in progress or when it is ready to share. Members of a Team Drive share ownership of any files and folders. If someone leaves the Team Drive, any files they added will stay. You can still share files with a link or invite. To Create/Use a “Team Drive” Click on the “Team Drive” Icon Click on the blue “New Button” Give your “Team Drive” a name Double click on your newly created team drive and click the “+Add members” link and add your prefered team members. Make sure to give them the correct access permissions by clicking the down arrow under the “Add Names” line. To add items or create items in your Team Drive, use the “New” button as you would when you are adding anything to your personal drive.

Google Slides and Videos

Now, let’s talk about about Google Slides and Videos. In the past, you have only been able to embed a YouTube video into your Slides presentation. This new update allows you to embed any video that you have housed in your Google Drive directly into your presentation instead of creating it as an external link. If you have used a video creation program like Screencastify, WeVideo, Animoto, or any other program where you can create and save a video file into your Google Drive, you can now embed and play the video right in a Slide.

1. Create your video and save it in your Google Drive. The best format is usually an MP4 file type.
2. Create the Slide and insert the video - follow these easy steps - video link
3. You can right click on the video for autoplay or cropping options.

Forms Allow for Document Uploads

You can now create a question in Forms that allows you to have respondents upload a file as their response. All files uploaded as a response will be placed in the Form owners Google Drive for easy access.  You can even select the file type, size, and the number of files that the respondent can upload for you. Here is a quick video that shows you the process - video

Google Keep integrates with G Suite apps

Google Keep is a note taking/keeping app that has been often overlooked. At its most basic, it is a tool that you can use to create lists. If you want to use it in a more robust fashion, you can create notes with images, links and videos that can then be shared with any of your other Googly friends in the same way that you can share a Doc, Form, Slide, etc. There is even a handwriting tool for those of you who like to keep handwritten notes or doodles.

Keep is now fully integrated with Google Docs. When you open Keep as a tool in Docs , it becomes a bar running on the right side of your screen. You can click and drag any of your notes onto your Doc or you can copy and paste into any comments that you create. Watch this to see an example of how it works: video

Here is an excellent article by one of my favorite bloggers, Eric Curts. This article gives step-by-step directions on how to create Notes in Keep and then how to use this feature to save time when you are giving student feedback on Google Docs.  

Hopefully you found something valuable in these updates! Forest Hills educators, contact your DLS for further assistance. All others, feel free to use the comments sections to share your thoughts and ideas.

Contributed by Melanie Zolnier @libary_techer

The Google Teacher Tribe Podcast: Matt Miller & Casey Bell

This Week’s Topic in Focus:  Growing your PLN

Each month our Digital Learning Team will feature a connection that we feel exemplifies and supports our mission and goals. Our hope is that you find so much value and worth in that resource that you  decide to add him/her/them to your own Personal Learning Network.  Check out this month’s featured follow:

Matt Miller & Casey Bell

Learn about updates and new feature releases in G-Suite for Education.  Connect with an innovative educator each week.  Get inspired to empower your learners.  Matt Miller and Casey Bell are dynamic tag team partners that will keep you in the know and push you to grow in your educational practices.

Matt Miller (@jmattmiller) is probably most known for his book, Ditch That Textbook.   He is also an active blogger and national presenter.  His blog site is www.ditchthattextbook.com.  There is currently a free ebook being offered with 101 tips on how to ditch your textbook on his site.  Matt is very reflective of the learning process and promotes ideas that empower active scholarship rather than passive reception and regurgitation of memorized facts.  He also frequently provides specific tips and tricks using G-Suite for Education tools which will breath life into your day to day practices.  

Casey Bell (@ShakeUpLearning) is also an active blogger.  You can read her posts at www.shakeuplearning.com.   She has several free ebooks being offered on her site.  Casey is a Digital Learning Coach in Dallas/Fort Worth and she routinely produces great resources for educators using G-Suite for education tools.  

Both of these individuals are worth following on their own right but the reason why I am featuring them together in this post is because, starting in January of this year they’ve combined forces to co-produce a weekly podcast.  I have listened to every episode to date and have taken away a number of new tips, tricks and ideas every single time.  Their channel is called the Google Teacher Tribe Podcast. You can listen using your mobile device (itunes/android) or via your computer at www.googleteachertribe.com.  Sit back and listen and then check out their episode notes to start using what you’ve learned.

Would you like to grow your PLN?  Do you have resources that you would like to share?  We can help you regardless of where you are along the personal learning network path.  See your DLS to kickstart a conversation - Cheryl, Melanie or Kyle.

Contributed by Kyle Mack @ProfKyleMack

Using Google to Encourage Students as Creators

This Week’s Topic in Focus:  Using Google to Encourage Students as Creators

Each month our Digital Learning Team will deep dive into a specific feature or tool in Google. This week we will take a look at using Google to encourage students to be creators.
For many educators GSuite for EDU is great for organization and workflow. If you haven't already, consider using Google tools as a way for students to create and show what they know.  George Couros states one of the characteristics of the innovator’s mindset is to be a creator.  

“Creators- Anyone can consume information, but that doesn’t equate to learning.  The Center for Accelerated Learning notes:

         Learning is creation, not consumption. Knowledge is not something a learner absorbs, but something a learner creates.  Learning happens when a learner integrates new knowledge and skill into his or her existing structure of self.  Learning is literally a matter of creating new meanings, new neural networks, and new patterns of electro/chemical interactions within one’s total brain/body systems.”

Explore and consider these Google tools for students to be creators of content.

STUDENTS CREATE

DOCS	SLIDES	SITES	MAPS/YouTube/Drawings
*Shared Doc to create study guides, create individual or collaborative reports *Write poetry	*Cartoon strip * eBook *Choose Your own adventure story *Digital Storytelling	*Digital portfolio to share the best of their work, show growth and share with the world *Blog	*My Maps - create a map, tour, share facts and artifacts *YouTube - create videos to explain a topic, share what they know in creative ways and more *Sketchnoting *Diagramming *Posters

If you would like help implementing any of these ideas in your classroom, see your DLS.

Feel free to use the comment feature to share how you are using Google to have your students create. We look forward to learning from your ideas.

Works Cited

Couros, George. The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent, and Lead a Culture of Creativity. San Diego, CA: Dave Burgess Consulting, 2015. Print.