PPS Instructional Technology

In Michigan, the week before Labor Day is usually the week when all teachers report back for work.  We attend countless meetings and hours of professional development before heading into our classrooms to make sure everything is just right before the students walk in the doors.  As we approach the end of the week and head to our rooms to knock out the last few items on our to do lists, here are a few tools you may or may not know about that can make your life easier this school year. Classroom Screen Looking for a great web toolbox for your TEC screen?  Classroomscreen.com is a one stop shop for tools like... Random Name Picker Classroom Noise Level Monitor Quick QR Code Generator Drawing Tools for your Screen Type of the Screen Symbols for Voice Level Desired Traffic Light Timer Clock You can set the background image and leave the tab open on your TEC (Technology Enhanced Classroom) computer and leave it as your main "Homepage". Noisli : "White

Google recently launched the ability to make templates of your docs, slides, sheets and forms, and store them in a district template gallery.  The idea of having district templates for docs, slides and sheets is nice, but I feel the real game changer is the ability to turn forms into templates.  In the past there wasn't a good way to take a form and provide it as a template for others to use.  There was no "view only" option in forms.  With the new template gallery, sharing forms is easy!  Here is how to get started. Creating a Form Template for the District Step 1: Go to forms.google.com Step 2: Click on Template Gallery Step 3: Click Submit Template Step 4: Select a form from your Google Drive by clicking the Select A Form button. Step 5: Check the Submit a copy of the file instead of the original  box.  This will make a copy of your original document.  That way you have a copy you can make your own changes on that won't effect everyone else who i

I frequently get asked by teachers if it is possible to upload files to a google form.  There are many reasons that teachers may want students to do this.  Maybe they need pictures for the yearbook, or they want them to upload an mp3 file of them playing a piece of music, or having a conversation in a foreign language.  Maybe you had your students draw a pictures to explain a concept in science, and now you want them to attach a picture of it to the form as part of an assessment.  Not to long ago, this was not possible.  We had some creative work arounds, but not the simplicity many teachers wished for.  Thankfully, Google heard your pleas and has now added the attach a file option! In the article, New Time-saving Features in G-Suite for Education , author Ryan Webber states: Also debuting today, is a top-requested feature from our education customers — the new “File upload” question type. Students can now upload files from their computer or Drive — all of which are neatly collecte

It is no surprise that I love Google Classroom and Google Forms.  These are two of my favorite tools thanks to all they wonderful educational uses. Google forms are a great way to collect information from students.  Whether I need them to respond to a survey, take a quiz, or collect data, this is usually my go-to tool.  Traditionally if I needed my students to use a form I would share it with them via an email to their school account, or I would give them a shortened URL to type into their address bar.  Last year, when I began to use Google Classroom, it became even easier to have my students use google forms for quick formative assessments or to collect responses about their learning.  I could insert the link to the form right in an assignment in Google Classroom.  Once they took the survey/quiz, I would then have them go back into classroom and mark it as "done."  This was a bit cumbersome,  but it helped me to quickly see who was done and who was still working. This

Over the last month, Google made some major updates to the look and feel of Google Forms .  Here is a great " how to " from Educational Technology and Mobile Learning on how to navigate through the new features. http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2015/09/teachers-guide-on-how-to-use-new-google-forms.html

Make it visual! Paste information collected with a form into a Wordle to see what the most common responses were for the survey. Graphing your Data! In a few clicks, you can graph data in a google spreadsheet.  Google has a great help document on creating a graph.  Check it out here . Add Ons: Flubaroo - Self Grading Quizzes Have you given a quiz with a Google Form and wanted a quick way to grade it?  If so, then the flubaroo add on is just what you are looking for!  Not only can it grade multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions, it can also compute the average score for the assignment, compute the average score per question and flag low-scoring questions, show you a grade distribution graph, allow you to email each student their grade and the answer key (optional) or send individual feedback to each student.  Learn more at:  http://www.flubaroo.com/flubaroo-user-guide .

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 house, parent night, or

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 Training (update) G

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