Google Apps Overview Lesson
| Site: | REMC 8 / Kent ISD Moodle VLE |
| Course: | Digital Tools for Teaching and Learning |
| Book: | Google Apps Overview Lesson |
| Printed by: | Guest user |
| Date: | Monday, December 9, 2024, 5:41 PM |
Description
Covers Google Forms, Sites, Calendar, and YouTube
Google Apps Intro
Based on my conversations with educators and Google users in general, many people are unaware that they have access to a wide range of applications through their Google/Gmail account. When you are logged in, you can access the apps by clicking on the black bar at the top of your screen, and you can click on more > even more to explore further.
The following chapters contain information about some of the apps and provide some ideas about how they can be used in educational settings.
Contacts/ Groups
Creating groups in Google apps is useful because you can use them to send and share things more efficiently by typing the group name instead of each individual in the group. For example, you can create groups by hour, by department, or by some other organizational structure. Here's how you do it:- Log in to your account and click the Contacts icon in the black bar at the top of the screen.
- On the left side, you will see an option for a new group. Click that
- Name the group
- Click on the head with a + sign to manually enter contacts by email address, separating each with a semi-colon.
- You can also do bulk uploads by clicking More > Import
- NOTE: If your acct. is part of an organization, contact names may autocomplete when you start typing their names. You can also access all the org. contacts form the directory on the left side
- You may see a Circles section. That is for your Google Plus account, and they are organized as groups already
Once your groups are created, you can start a new email or doc, and when you start typing the name of the group, it will autocomplete.
Presentations
Google Presentations function similarly to Google Docs in that you can share at different permission levels and invite collaborators. They can also be used as a mind-mapping tool and be embedded on a website for easy viewing by all. Here is some more info:Video Overview
Other helpful links:
Forms
Google Forms is a versatile tool within Google Apps that can be used for many purposes. It is essentially a survey creator in which you can ask a variety of questions and invite others to complete. Educators can gather information from staff, parents, students, or others and view/organize the data results in different ways. It can also be used as a quiz generator, and you can run a special script so that the quizzes are graded for you. See below to learn more:*Note: The version displayed below is the most recent release. Your Forms tool may look different if your organization has not updated yet.
Overview Video
Other helpful links
- Link to Google Support (text instructions on how to do everything)
- How to do self-graded quizzes using Flubaroo
- 80 ways to use Google Forms in the classroom
- More ideas for Forms in the classroom
YouTube
Pretty much everyone knows about and has seen YouTube, but not everyone knows that they have a YouTube account attached to their Google account (as long as your organization allows it). Even fewer people know about the all the useful features available for users. Educators and students can use it in ways too numerous to name. Look below to learn about some of them:How to Upload Video
Other Useful Links/ Ideas
- Teacher Guide to using YouTube
- Google YouTube Support
- Ideas
- Record from webcam and upload (presentation practice, simple communication, project component)
- Conduct classroom discussions in comments or embed in Google Doc and set up discussion/ analysis on that
- Create a playlist of videos and add your own intro with directions/ input
- How to make playlist
- Hover over playlist and click +Introduction
- Add questions to a video for student response
- Embed videos of class performance/ work on your website
Calendar
Google Calendar is another powerful and useful application in the Google suite. You can create multiple calendars, view/ control them from one screen, and share or not share depending on how you want them to be used. They can be embedded on your website and can generally help you organize and communicate more efficiently. View the resources below to learn more:Video Overview
Other Helpful Links
Blogger
Blogger is Google's blog tool that comes with every Google account (as long as your organization/ district allows it to be used). Many educators use it as their web presence to display information and communicate with stakeholders. It can also be used with students as a way to integrate digital writing with authentic tasks and collaborative learning. Here's more info on the details:Video Tutorial (Getting Started with Blogger)
Other Useful Links