Taylor ISD DuckLink # 49
empowering student success and school improvement
December 1, 2015
a publication of the Taylor ISD Technology Department
Google Apps: A Great Combination of Tools
In this edition of the Taylor ISD DuckLink, we will share several tips all about Google Apps for Education. Our recent tech survey revealed that the vast majority of employees want to learn more about Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Google Classroom. We hope you will learn some great things and pass them on to others.
*This video may be helpful if you know very little about Google Apps for Education other than Gmail.
Gmail
- Vacation Responder- Go to Settings (gear icon), scroll down to Vacation Responder, select a date and type a response.
- Undo Send- Enable this feature by going to Settings and click Save Changes.
- Setup Your Signature- Go to Settings and scroll down to Signature. Type a signature and click Save Changes.
- Select multiple emails at a time- Hold down the Shift key and check the box for the first message, then click the box beside the last message in the series. This will select all the emails in the range.
Learn more at https://goo.gl/StVLjK
Docs
- Create Docs from a Template- Go to File>New>From Template.
- Use a Doc as a web page- Go to File>Publish to the Web. Includes and option to require a Taylor ISD Google account to view.
- Voice Typing- Go to Tools>Voice Typing and simply speak what you want typed in the document.
- Revision History- Go to File>See Revision History to see all the various revisions of the document and who made them.
- Suggestion Feature- Share a file with someone and have them make suggestions for revisions using this feature.
Sheets
- Create Sheets from a Template- Go to File>New>From Template.
- Use a Sheet as a web page- Go to File>Publish to the Web. Includes and option to require a Taylor ISD Google account to view.
- Notification Rules- Go to Tools>Notification Rules to setup when to be notified when others change data in the spreadsheet.
- Add-ons- Check out these great add-on. Power Tools / Autocrat / Flubaroo
Learn more at https://goo.gl/yOgYSU
Slides
- New Themes- Check out the recently updated themes.
- Slide Carnival- Gain some inspiration from some of these templates.
- Poll Everywhere- Add the extension and integrate polls in your Google Slides.
Learn more at https://goo.gl/HWlsf4
Drive
- Track Activity- Click the "i" icon in the top right corner to view all activity.
- Create Files Using Keyboard Commands (see below)
Learn more at https://goo.gl/fgfjwr
Classroom
- Share to Classroom Extension- Go the Chrome Web Store here https://goo.gl/0AZdwI and install the extension. When you are browsing a site that you want to include in Classroom simply click the icon. You can either make it an assignments, announcements, or simply prompt students to open the particular website if they are using Chrome at that time.
- Pear Deck Integration- You can turn on the Google Classroom Add-on and invite your Classroom class to join your Pear Deck presentation. Your students can even get Chrome Notifications when you invite them.
Learn more at https://goo.gl/lXp5Q2
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I've started posting items on the new Instructional Technology blog. I hope to post a few tech tips per week. You can get a feed of the post via Google+ or visit the blog and sign up via email.
Help Desk Contact
Eduphoria Help Desk- https://taylor.schoolobjects.com
Phone: 512-365-5015 or x1900
Be sure to visit the Taylor ISD Technology site for more information.
Contact Information
JP Hale
Director of Instructional Technology
Taylor ISD
Email: jphale@taylorisd.org
Website: http://www.taylorisd.org
Location: 3101 North Main Street, Taylor, TX
Phone: 512-365-5015
Twitter: @edtechminute