PPS Instructional Technology

Sample of search results from fonts.google.com A couple weeks ago, I was sitting in a training with a bunch of my favorite lower elementary teacher friends, and several of them were lamenting the fact that it is hard to find "good" Google fonts for the little people they work with on a daily basis.  Specifically, it is a challenge to find the single story lower case a and the open 4 .  This conversation, of course, sent me out on a mission to remedy this for these fantastic people.  So, the next day I put on my headphones, turned up the tunes on Spotify, and dived into the website fonts.google.com .  This website lists all the Google fonts available.  It also allows you to type in your own letters and numbers and see them in all the various fonts.  For my purpose, I typed in "abckgy 1234 This is the font."  From here I could see all 877 fonts, and look specifically for the a   and the 4.  It was quite an adventure, and I came across...

Need to print this tip?  Click here for a printable version . Although the need to print student documents has significantly decreased, there are still times when you want to print multiple student docs at one time.  For example, maybe you assigned a writing assignment in Google Classroom that you want to print for their writing folders.  You could go into each document individually and print it, but this can be a time consuming process.  Instead try using the app PDF Mergy to combine the documents into one PDF.  Then you only need to print one document.  WARNING: Just because you can print lots of docs at once, doesn't mean you should!  Please use this tip with caution and save paper whenever possible! To get started, you will need to go to the Chrome Web Store and add the app PDF Mergy . Once you have the app added to chrome, you are ready to go. Find the documents you want to print.   Here are some tips to finding the documents....

When sharing documents with others, it is often beneficial to convert them to a PDF for several reasons. The format will be locked, like a “picture” of your document The document will be able to be opened and read on most devices, including PC’s, Macs, Phones, and Tablets. The document will print as viewed on the screen, with no worrying about inconsistent margins disrupting the formatting. It is easy to convert Google Documents to PDFs. Follow the simple steps below and you will be all set. After creating your document, Step 1: Go to the File Menu Step 2: Select "Download as..." Step 3: Select "PDF Document (.pdf)" Step 4: File will automatically download to your computer.  You can now open the file, rename the file, or move the file to another location. For information on how to convert Microsoft Word Files to PDF, check out this tech tip .

This summer the big buzz at Tech Camp wasn't the Skyward gradebook or online assessments...it was GOOGLE CLASSROOM !  Google Classroom is a document management system from Google that really helps teachers organize and manage their classes.  It allows you to easily handout and have students turn back in assignments in a logical and organized manner.  This product launched just over a year ago and since that time it has taken the classrooms around the country by storm.  Learn more about Google Classroom in this blog post . Now since Google never leaves well enough alone when it comes to any of their products, it is no surprise that they have recently made some substantial feature adds to Google Classroom just in time for the start of a new school year.  These new features include some of the most requested items we heard from our PPS teachers who were piloting Google Classroom last year.  Here is what Google had to say about the new features they have adde...

It is no secret that I love Google Forms.   Paul Murray and I frequently share our love of this easy to use data collection tool with our teachers and others around the state, like in this presentation from miGoogle 2013.  One of the problems I have with data collection, however, is what to do with all the information, and make it manageable, once you have it collected.  I often look at spreadsheets full of Form responses and wonder, "There are 200 responses here!  How am I going to make sense of all this?"  Thankfully, there are some really amazing add-ons and tools that, with little effort on the users part, can make the data come alive. Tool #1: Add-on - autoCrat As a teacher, I collect information from my students/families every year.  Information such as names, parents/guardians names, preferred email address, preferred phone number, best way to contact parents/guardians, etc.  This information can be easily collected with a Form at open...

Back in March of 2014, I shared with you that Google expanded the functionality of docs and spreadsheets with the addition of Add Ons ( Google Docs just got better! Google Docs introduces Add ons ).  At the time, there were only a couple of Add Ons for each program since it was so new.  There are now numerous Add Ons and they have expanded it to Google Forms as well.  Over the next couple weeks,  I will be sharing with you some of my favorite Add Ons, along with how they can be used in the classroom. Let's collaborate!   Is there a add on that you can't live without?  Share your ideas and how you use it in the classroom and I will share it out for everyone! Getting Started Haven't checked out add ons yet?  Open a Google doc or sheet.  Click on the Add-ons menu and select Get add-ons.

This week Paul Murray ( @Paul_Murray6 ) and I had the pleasure of attending the 2014 miGoogle Summit in Brighton, MI.  This was a great opportunity for us to learn some new tips and tricks from our fellow educators, as well as share some of our own as speakers at the conference.  There's nothing quite like a good learning opportunity to renew your enthusiasm for education and the great tools out there to enhance teaching and learning. Over the next month, my goal is to share some of the tips, tricks, and tools from miGoogle and open the door for discussion on the ways you all are using these tools in your classrooms. Let's get started: Going Google #1: Search Directly in your Google Docs This first tip comes from my presentation on Doing More with Google Docs .  One of my favorite features natively found in Google Docs in the Research Tool.  This great tool allows you to do a general Google search, or search specifically for images, videos, scholarly arti...

For those of you who have used Google Docs with your students you know that it is a great tool for communication and collaboration.  Students can work on projects together, teachers can view documents in real time and comment and offer support, and everything saves automatically!  SO many great pluses, but getting students to share and "turn in" documents was a big head ache. Enter Google Classroom! Google Classroom is Google's new learner managements system (LMS) which makes handing out, turning in, and grading assignments a dream. To learn more about Google Classroom and get started setting up your first class, check out this Blog post from Instructional Tech Talk:  http://instructionaltechtalk.com/getting-started-google-classroom/ PPS Teachers, have questions or want some help getting started, set up time with Jessica ( calendly.com/jwinstanley ) or Paul ( calendly.com/pmurray ).

One of the things that I often hear when training on Google Docs is, "How do I insert ClipArt?"  I then usually have to go through the steps of inserting an image, or pulling in an image from another site.  Well it just got a whole lot easier to insert ClipArt in to your Google Document thanks to the Open ClipArt Add-on! To add this to your Google Docs account: Go to the Add-ons menu at the top of your Google Document.   Click "Get Add ons" Select "OpenClipArt" Now the next time you want to add clipart to a Google Document all you need to do is go to the Add-ons menu and select "Openclipart" and "Search Clipart".  A window will appear on the right side of your screen for you to search! Yeah!

In previous posts I shared how to share documents with your students using a distribution list and the GClassFolders script that can be found in the old version of Google Spreadsheets.  Here is one more way to share documents with your students, and possible my new favorite way! DOCTOPUS In the new Google Sheets you will find the Add ons menu.  This menu allows you to add features to your spreadsheets and documents, much like the script gallery used to allow you to do.  The great thing is that the new Doctopus add on is very simple to use and walks you right through the process.  The added bonus of sharing documents through Doctopus is that you can set up templates for your students to use, as well as grading them using the Goobric rubric feature. Check out this video to learn more, or check out Doctupus in the Add ons store :

I will be the first to admit that, despite the fact that I use Google Docs every day, it isn't the most full featured piece of software I have ever used.  There are many times when I would like to insert a graphic organizer in a Doc, or use a spreadsheet to easily create a mail merge.  Well, Google is changing things up and has introduced the Add-Ons menu to Google Docs and the New Google Sheets.  This new menu allows you to select certain tools that you want to use with your Google Docs.  Here is a brief introductory video: In addition to the Add-ons listed in the video above, LucidChart has also been integrated into the add-on gallery.  LucidChart allows you to create mind-maps and other graphic organizers.  I love this tool and have used with with students as young as second grade.  What I am really excited about is that I now can have my students insert their graphic organizer right into their Google document they are sharing with me.  I ca...

Last Week, I explained a way to share Google docs with your class without typing each email on every document by using the distribution/contact groups in Gmail.  Today we will learn how to use the script Gclassfolders to create assignment folders, edit and view folders for your class/classes. This is a great script.  What you need to do is enter your students names and emails one time into a spreadsheet, then the script automatically creates and shares folders for each of your students and two folders for the whole class.  I love this script and have used it multiple times.  It takes some time up front, but it saves me so much time over the course of the school year! You can find out instructions and more information about GClassFolders here .

When teachers first start using Google Docs, one of the questions I most frequently get is "How do I easily share my documents with ALL my students without having to type every single name in on each document?"  As a teacher, I completely understand the importance of this question.  Sharing documents is one of the most important features of Google Docs, but if it becomes a time and management nightmare, who would want to use it?  Well, I have some good news!  There are a few methods that you can use that will make it easy to share documents with your students all year long!  Here is the first and simplest method.  It involves setting up a distribution/contact group in your Gmail, then simply sharing any documents with that distribution/contact group. METHOD 1: Distribution/Contact Group Step 1: Begin in your chrome browser while visiting your PortagePS Gmail. At the upper-left corner of your gmail, you will see the compose button and above that the ...

Providing rich, timely feedback for our students is one of the most important things that we do as educators. When writing or typing a comment, we may find it difficult to convey the exact intent of our message. If only we had a convenient way to express our thoughts audibly. Well, now we do! Kaizena.com is a free service that easily connects to our Google accounts and creates audio comments, text comments, and resource comments on students' work. Simply move your documents, either one at a time or as a folder, to Kaizena and you can enter multiple comments to a single selection of text, whether it be a letter, word, phrase, or paragraph. While leaving audio comments may bring clarity to your suggestions, leaving a resource comment allows you to link an online resource for the student to visit and review. A resource might be a news article, a video, a reference site, or notes from a lecture. If you tried Kaizena when it was first released, you may want to give it another try as th...

Over the last couple years, many of our technology tools have come from Google thanks to the Google Apps for Education initiative.  Your tech integration specialists have offered training on a wide range of Google topics including, GMail, Google Drive, Google Docs, Google Sites, Blogger and more.  We realize, however, that it is not always possible or easy for you all to attend trainings.  Also, some of you prefer to learn at your own pace and on your own time.  If you fit in to one of these categories, then Atomic Learning will be the resource for you.  They have short online tutorials on a plethora of topics including all things Google.  Here is the latest Quick Tip sheet from Atomic Learning: The link from the quick tip is: http://goo.gl/DgvVMz

Portage Public Schools has a subscription to the online training site Atomic Learning.  This site offers great online training opportunities for those of you who enjoy learning at your own pace.  Here are some of the recent training opportunitites related to Google.  Enjoy! Recent Training Releases Atomic Learning regularly updates our training offerings to keep you up-to-date on the latest and greatest educational technology. Recent additions to the training library include: Gmail Training (update) Google Calendar Training (update) Google Documents - Creating & Organizing Training (update) Google Documents - Editing & Formatting Training (update) Google Documents - Sharing & Collaborating Training Google Forms Training Google Presentations - Collaborating & Sharing Training Google Presentations - Creating & Editing Training (update) Google Spreadsheets - Basics Training (update) Google Spreadsheets - Chart & Formulas Trainin...

The Schedule for June summer trainings is now available. Trainings will be held at then new Administration Building in the Computer Lab. To register for a course, simply click on the link in front of the date/time. This will take you directly to the KALPA registration page for that class. The August schedule will be available in the next few weeks.We look forward to seeing you all this summer! Google Sites for Beginners: Want to create a website for your classroom? Need a way to communicate with your parents and students now that your eboard has gone away? Google SItes is the perfect way to do this. Class will run approximately 1.5 hours. 435004 : June 11, 2013 at 8:30 am 435049 : June 19, 2013 at 8:30 am 435050 : June 25, 2013 at 12:30 pm Google Sites: The Next Step: Do you have a basic google site up and running and would like to learn more about how to customize your site by adding calendars, groups, pictures, custom banners and much more? Then this class is for you. Parti...