Google #3: Google Docs tips and tricks

 

The Internet is full of posts relating to all the things you can do with Google Docs. It is an amazing suite especially when it is used in combination with Google Chrome. 

Some of my favourite tips

1. I love the fact that you can upload any document such as a Microsoft PowerPoint and immediately be given an URL to share in whatever way you choose. This means that in a blog, for example, you might want to share a PowerPoint link without having to put it to Slideshare, or you might want to share a Word document. I thought Box.net was the best way to do this but Google Docs is just as good.

2. The Chrome extensions are amazing! For example, I LOVE the way that when you are browsing the Internet and you come across a website you like...OK, you can bookmark it in Diigo, BUT, if you want a more tangible form like a PDF of the page you just click on the extension Send to Google Docs. The DocWatch extension is also useful for collaboration and seeing if the document you are working with has been added to since you last looked. The third extension I LOVE is not necessarily for Google Docs but is the Dictionary extension where you can double click on any word on a web page and get the meaning. This is so useful for our students. Is there any wonder that Chrome is my favourite browser! Across the top of my Google Chrome browser I have all the little extensions I love to use - Scoop.it, scrible toolbar for annotating, Diigo, Send to Google Docs, WatchDoc, Dictionary - the list is growing daily!

The following presentation outlines a few of my favourite tips and tricks from Google Docs.

Google docs tips and tricks

View more presentations from Fiona Beal.

Google #2: You’ll definitely love using Google forms

'Google Forms' is probably one of the most useful and often underutilized Google tools. They can be used for so many different things as I will show you below. They can be embedded into blogs, wikis and websites or can just be stand-a-lones on the web.  Each form creates its own spreadsheet that captures and collects the responses quickly and easily.  

Here are some of the uses I have discovered:

•You can use them for general surveys

•You can get quick input from others on various topics

•Use a Google form for various kinds of evaluation such as creating and posting short quizzes online. 

•Create a survey before and after a lesson/discussion

•Use it to collect data

•The students can fill in answers to questions in a test

•You can get feedback after a lesson

•It makes a great book review form 

Thus, a Google form is a great tool in the hands of an educator.  If you would like to make one, here are two presentations that could help. The first one looks at the seven different kinds of questions you can ask using a Google form. The second one shows you how to go about making a Google form. I hope you’ll find them helpful.

The seven question types to use on a Google form

View more presentations from Fiona Beal.

Google forms - so easy to use

View more PowerPoint from Fiona Beal

Google #1: Have you discovered Google Docs?

Have you discovered Google Docs? It is one of the best technology finds available! What I love most about it is its versatility

Just recently I have been exploring Google Docs more fully and here are some of the things I have really enjoyed about using it:

Benefits of  using Google Docs

*When you create and or store files in your Google Documents account, those files are available from wherever you go, through any computer with an Internet connection. This means that you don’t have to send file attachments to yourself via email, carry a flash drive, or worry about file compatibility.

*Google Docs can have a multitude of people writing on the same document at the same time – it’s great for collaboration.

*I love the fact that you don’t have to save – it saves everything automatically.

*You can easily share documents with others even if they don’t have a Google account. Once a document is shared comments suggested edits can be placed in the margins of the document, which is great for marking purposes.

*Google Docs have a web link so they can be shown as webpages when you want to show someone somewhere else something.

*Google Docs is now integrated into Google Drive which means you can now install Google Drive on all the computers you work on and work offline. It will sync everything just like Dropbox does.

*Google Docs gives you 5Gb of free space which won’t take all your photos etc – but it is big enough to be very useful.

*You can keep your documents in folders.

*Google forms have so many amazing uses. You can set tests on them etc.

*You can upload AND download easily to Microsoft Office.

Create your own Google document

Actually…the list of benefits is endless… So my advice is, open a Google account if you don’t already have one and start experimenting with Google Docs which are now housed in Google drive. Oh yes, one tip – try and use Google Chrome as your browser with Google Docs – the two go together like a horse and carriage! 

 

Once you have joined Google and you want to explore Google Docs, well, why not create a Google document while you are about it? Here is a Slideshare with some pointers if you need them.

How to create a new Google document

View more presentations from Fiona Beal.

See? What did I tell you? Google Docs is an amazing suite!

A day at TEDxCapeTown ED on 16 June 2012

Imagine receiving a phone call on the morning of the totally booked-out TEDxCapeTownED event on 16 June and being asked, “Would you still like to attend TEDx – we have a ticket for you?” Well, it happened to me, and I got there at lightning speed as excited as a kid in a candy store! What a worthwhile day it proved to be – with the words of movers and shakers in education pounding at one's heart and leaving their mark. 

Let me explain what a TEDx event is. The famous international TED talks are riveting short talks given by remarkable people on relevant topics. The TEDx program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. This particular event centred around education – 19 twelve minute talks by innovative thinkers in South African education.

There’s no doubt that education in South Africa has a long way to go and many of the speakers echoed this feeling. Solly Philander said of his now grown-up children, “I had to apologise to my children for sending them to school.” Now that might be taking things a bit far, but then Dr Mamphela Ramphele, who was introduced as someone who ‘says it like it is’, said our failed system has only one competitor… At that point she placed on the screen a picture of the sinking ship ‘Costa Concordia’. “Our education system is on the rocks,” she said. Sam Paddock painted a gloomy picture of Unisa’s distance education saying that it is ‘too distant'. Out of 300,000 enrolled students only 9% graduate. Professor Ian Scott from UCT gave alarming statistics of our Higher Education drop out rate. “Higher education has not come to terms with the needs of students”, he said.  

But TEDx wouldn’t be TEDx if speakers left us drowning in the pool of doom and gloom. The picture IS marred, and many, many children have been lost to a poorly managed system but the innovative solutions that were offered by the speakers planted seeds of hope. 

Here are just a few of the highlights that I noted. Brent van Rensburg spoke on ‘Your failures are our superstars’ and stressed how important it is for teachers to go with their students’ strengths rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Students from his Zip Zap circus show illustrated his point with their amazing expertise and skill. Steve Sherman, the MD of Living Maths, related how a teacher once said to him as a child, “I think you should drop Maths". Fortunately he didn’t listen!  Richard Malholland spoke about the different kind of career paths that await our students. ‘They will resemble mindmaps’. He caused a reaction from the audience when he suggested that degrees have a sell-by date of maybe five years unless certain requirements are met in professional development! Tim Noakes urged  teachers to become like coaches who “generate belief in themselves in the students we teach".

John Gilmour encouraged us to concentrate on producing good mothers and fathers for the sake of society. At least two of the speakers suggested that  all graduates spend two years in community service teaching before continuing with their own career paths. Christopher Hagspihl has been doing just that, teaching Maths in a township school before continuing with a career in banking, and he spoke of the rewards of such an experience. Leigh Maynert who co-founded a business university at age 25 with no educational background spoke of nurturing the souls of students. TSiBA Institute has produced four Nelson Mandela Rhodes scholars in the last few years. Each and every speaker added their flavour to the pot as the day progressed.

. 

Judging by the tweets on the Twitter stream we all left inspired and refreshed by the ideas of others put forward during the day. It was the kind of day one wouldn't want to have spent in any other way! It was also a day of connecting with old friends (like my TeachMeet buddies from Somerset West pictured above), and making new ones. But the question always is…What now? Inspired as we are by events like this, is it going to lead to any major change anywhere? Is government likely to listen? I guess the conclusion we are forced into adopting is that WE have to do our bit in society as transformative agents. It is actually up to us! Dr Mamphela Ramphele left us with these words, "We are ALL responsible for improving education." 

Note: If you would like to listen to any of these talks, the videos are now available online at http://www.tedxcapetown.org/videos

TeachMeet at Microsoft, Johannesburg on 4 June – inspiring!

Submitted by Fiona Beal
On Monday 4 June 2012 at 15:00 Microsoft hosted its second TeachMeet at its Johannesburg offices. Teachmeets are the new informal type of professional development where teachers share for three minutes by means of a laptop and data projector on something they have done in their classrooms involving technology integration. Approximately 120 teachers, including officials from the Department of Education in Gauteng and North West Province, squeezed into the allocated room to hear what the 13 presenters had to say. Microsoft planned a scintillating programme for the afternoon and, after the presenters had finished sharing, the attendees were also shown Office tips and tricks, demonstrations on Windows 8 and a preview of the new Microsoft slate which will be launched later in 2012. 

Following along using Twitter

Those of us who couldn’t attend the TeachMeet physically followed on the Twitter hashtag #msedu. Maggie Verster, sometimes called the ‘Twitter Queen’, started off the event on a high note by showing delegates how to join this social networking, microblogging sensation using their phones. Twitter is still the no. 1 web tool on most ‘Best of…’ lists around the world. 

Maggie Verster getting everybody on to Twitter via their cell phones

Here’s what the teacher presenters had to say

9 of the 13 presenters

Abdulla Sujee presented on how he uses authentic learning opportunities as a powerful strategy to engage students in real world scenarios. He makes use of social media and online museums. He sees the classroom as a live museum and gets his students to connect with others globally and tell their stories. 

Sean Hampton-Cole from Crawford College, Lonehill, showed how he uses Edmodo, a free classroom management platform along the lines of Moodle or Obami and several others.  Edmodo helps create a classroom community and encourages interactive learning. It has a similar design to Facebook which makes it very appealing to students. It offers students badges which act as a great incentive.  http://www.edmodo.com/

Tracy Tcshlol from North West Christian College demonstrated Numberwise, a free computer program designed to help primary students to master the 4 basic operations of +, -, x and ÷. It covers basic numeracy, Mental Maths, number facts, tables & bonds. There are 150 lessons that increase in difficulty. http://www.numberwise.com/

Karen Walstra from St Stithians Preparatory School for Boys talked about Google’s online safety programme for students and showed how to set safety filters for students. http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/familysafety/

Saul Pila from the Gauteng North District Deprtment of Education  showed how blogging can be a very useful tool in an English classroom for encouraging learning about English idioms.

Hlengiwe Mfeka spoke about having a positive attitude and using cell phones in the classroom.She encouraged teachers in under-resourced schools to continue in their efforts and keep pushing the limits.

Tim Schaerer from St Stithians Girls College spoke about using the autocorrect options in Microsoft Office to quickly create standard front pages for exams. 

Robyn Clark from the Sekolo Sa Borokgo school spoke about using cell phones as a support for learning Maths in High School. She said that what works in her classroom is:

• Twitter: posting homework and links
• Facebook: posting homework and links
• BBM / Mxit / Whatsapp: study buddies

Robyn gave tips on how she creates student profiles for these applications. 

Paul Wilton from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls spoke on Digital Study Aids. He showed how he gets the OWLA students to create beautiful, colourful mindmap-like study notes.  

Ron Naude from the North West University in Potchefstroom was dialled in using the Lync webinar programme to present on My Yesa passport. This programme uses Mxit as it is cheap and social and students love using it for learning. http://yesa.org.za/ 

Lyneth Crighton from Brescia House presented on different ways of creating historical posters using free applications such as BigHugeLabs. http://bighugelabs.com/

Christopher Seewald from Pecanwood College spoke on Introducing Cloud Computing to Grade 7 using Microsoft Skydrive and Office 365 as his cloud base. His students use their Skydrives to access the school’s Sharepoint. The whole office suite is free online. 

Angie Barclay from Cornwall Hill College spoke on The Value of One Note for Preschool Teaching. http://www.microsoft.com/office/rm/onenotewebapp.aspx

 

 

TeachMeets are a way of keeping up with digital trends

Events like this enable teachers to see what is happening in other schools and find ideas they can implement back at their own school. As Public Sector lead at Microsoft South Africa Kabelo Makwane says: “Keeping up with the trends of a digitalised community, teachers are much more open and willing to share lesson ideas with fellow teachers and try out new ideas in this way. These regular TeachMeet events are a wonderfully visible portion of our Partners in Learning programme, which focuses on building capacity and communities to, in the end, benefit the learners.” 

More photos of the event can be viewed here.

Have you tried creating a project using the new project tab on a Wikispaces wiki? Instructions follow!

Submitted by Fiona Beal

If you are a teacher that loves project-based teaching and connecting with classes around the world you'll know that Wikispaces is the perfect platform to use.  But did you know this? Wikispaces has added an amazing new feature to their free education version platform called Projects. This new feature allows you to create a special place for your project within your classroom wiki. In other words, you don’t have to create a separate project wiki for your classroom projects.

Set up a project for your class within your own Wikispaces wiki

In your normal classroom wiki you can:

• Set up a project or even a number of different projects

• Assign students to teams if necessary (a team could have just one student)

• Control editing and viewing privileges for each team’s space

• Use templates created specifically for that project. A project template can be used as a starting point or home page.

Each team space will have their own copy of the page which means they can interact with it, instead of just viewing it. Templates can include text, graphics, multimedia, links and any number of embeddable resources. Imagine an interactive, multi-media project rubric students can use to document work and self-evaluate as they go!

Teams of students can easily create new pages within their team space that are automatically linked to their home page for easy navigation.
Basically, as someone put it, “the Projects feature allows organizers to create a wiki within a wiki!”

I think this can best be explained by means of a Slideshare.

How to set up a project using Wikispaces

View more presentations from Fiona Beal

How to create a template using for a project using Wikispaces

We are going to take this one step further now to show how you can create a template page (as many as you like) and add it to each project. This could be the project instructions, the rubric or whatever you choose! Here is the Slideshare with all the details:

Set up a project in Wikispaces using a template

I can really recommend that you give this a try. Global projects are on the increase and Wikispaces is an excellent platform to use. 

View more presentations from Fiona Beal

First TeachMeet in KZN held at St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls

Submitted by Fiona Beal
Quite a number of TeachMeets have taken place around South Africa recently. I have been privileged to attend two in the last month in person and one virtually! Just a reminder about what TeachMeets are again– they are informal free gatherings where the teacher attendees are the presenters in matters concerning technology-integration in the classroom, and the focus is on the needs and wants of those attending. They are normally directed 100% to those attending, and teachers come away excited and stimulated with new ideas. The presentations at TeachMeets are usually 3 minutes in length and whatever is shared is usually made available to the attendees. At TeachMeets we talk about ‘enthusiastic lurkers’ (attendees) and ‘keen beans’ (presenters).


The first ever Kwazulu-Natal TeachMeet was held at St Mary’s DSG School in Kloof on 29 May at 18:00 and was organised by Linda Locke and Sheryl Gordon from St Mary as well as Anne Maw from Crawford Preparatory, North Coast. Microsoft sponsored free learning Suite DVDs, and other items to all the attendees and Obami sponsored a R5000 training voucher for all the staff at the winning school in their product. 

When you drive through the gates of St Mary’s you are immediately awestruck by the views. The school is at the top of a rise with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside all around. The TeachMeet was held in their beautiful ‘Creativity Centre’ where each Grade spends a day every couple of weeks being exposed to all sorts of creative tasks.  There were about 40 teachers from around Durban and we all sat in groups around tables with three screens in front of us. One was for the Twitter backchannel, one was for the presentations from a PC and one was for the iPad presentations. I rather liked the way the types of presentations were mixed – some from iPads and some from PCs.

This was our table deep in dicsussion

It was great connecting with old friends again.

Charli Wiggil from Durban, and Deb Avery from Pietermaritzburg

While one of the presenters was getting ready, Jonathon Manley, the principal of St Mary’s, showed us how one can easily switch to taking over the data projector screen and presenting from an iPad from wherever you are by means of a little gadget called an Apple TV.

Presentations

There were 15 presenters, or should I say 'Kean Beans' and I am sure you would be interested to hear what they spoke about. 


Margie Hartmann gave a presentation on how she uses Scoopit (http://www.scoop.it/) which  scoops the web on the topic of your interest and creates a gorgeous online magazine with the topics you ‘curate’. You can follow Margie’s Scoop.it on this link: http://www.scoop.it/t/bee-bot-lessons-and-ideas

Anne Maw demonstrated how she uses Microsoft’s Songsmith in the classroom. This is a free karaoke programme that picks up your voice and backs it. It is great for educational use. It is available on Microsoft’s learning Suite CD and is also free to teachers who join the Partners in Learning network http://www.pil-network.com/

Sheryl Gordon (left) and Anne Maw (right) tweetpic photo

Jean Viary spoke about websites for teaching Internet rules and netiquette to Grade 4's and 5's.  “I use much more severe tactics with the Grade 6's and 7's using true videos from you tube about cyber bullying”.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/games/privacy_playground/ http://learninglab.org/life_skills/cyberbullying/


Charli Wiggill demonstrated how his class went about creating their project making tape aids for the blind using cell phones. (They made MP3 Aids for the Blind from  in teams of two with cellphones.)  His project wiki can be viewed at http://pay-it-forward-for-the-blind.wikispaces.com/. Charli was a winner in the recent PIL Forum competition with this project.  As Jonathon Manley commented on Twitter ‘Cellphones in the hands of children and a visionary teacher influences a blind world. Outstanding!” This project is now operating in 10 countries.

Helen Lass who lectures at a local Teachers’ Training College spoke on the neo-millennial brain of the adolescent and how to access it. This was a very inspiring talk. She said, “Up until the age of 23, learners and students have not developed a fully functioning pre-frontal cortex. As a result, I use videos to facilitate understanding and provide for brainstorming and application of theoretical knowledge”.  Helen encouraged us to read the work of Cathy Nuny http://www://brains.org

Jonathon Manley, principal at St Mary. showed how easy it is to do video splicing using the VLC media player http://www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html. He showed how to use VLC for recording clips and then add voiceover. You  can also play videos and then record parts or even take screenshots.  He said it is very easy to use.

Betsy Kee showed how she uses SMART Notebook to introduce puberty lessons.


Jo Kinsey demonstrated her use of CAM studio to create podcasts of Maths lessons http://camstudio.org/

Des Dunstone illustrated how she uses the Book Creator App on the iPad with her junior classes to create beautiful books. The learners choose the shape, insert text and add page colour. Photos must already be uploaded in the camera roll. It looks so easy to use. These can then be published to iBooks.

Lindy van der Meulen showed how she uses the Inkling App on the iPad for sourcing interactive textbooks for her music lessons. The Inkling site also has the most incredible selection of books relating to other subjects in the curriculum. These can be downloaded with video and sound embedded. There is a small cost involved but also a lot of freeware.

Sally Goldman illustrated her use of Obami as a classroom learning management system in her Maths classes. http://www.beta.obami.com/. Sally sets Maths problems and the students comment and try to solve them. She also talked about Brainpop: short educational videos that can be used to introduce concepts in all subjects. They have some free videos and "focus for the day" clips. www.brainpop.com (American) or www.brainpop.co.uk (Incidentally, one fortunate teacher ‘lurker’, Tanya, won a voucher from Obami valued at R5000 for all the staff at her school to be trained in its use).

Michelle de Beer demonstrated her use of Symbaloo which is a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) to visually organize and share the best of the web with students. http://www.symbaloo.com/. This looks great for bookmarking sites using categories and it is accessible anywhere. It is very visual and seems easy to use.

Fiona Beal showed how Classroom Dojo can be used as a motivational tool in the classroom. http://www.classdojo.com/

Hayley Calverley showed how she uses a Galaxy Tablet in the classroom as well as Wizteach: WizTeach is interactive teaching software designed for use with any interactive whiteboard, any interactive projector and any touch screen hardware over a wide range of subject areas. http://www.wizteach.com/

Sue Ausmeier spoke about the amazing TES website www.tes.co.uk. You register for free to be able to access incredible resources. It is great for downloading PowerPoints e.g. on the Olympics and customising them. Sue showed us how she did this with the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire” game (PowerPoint) from The TES website.


Twitterstream


What I loved about the twitter stream that evening was that TeachMeeters from Cape Town were following the Twitterstream and they kept popping in and adding their greetings and comments. Arthur Preston, a principal from Cape Town who is the originator of the #edchatsa tweetchat amongst South African teachers on a Monday night from 8:30-9:30 invited the KZN teachers to join the chat. Sheryl Gordon, one of the organisers, asked me  to explain this invitation to the group since I was from Cape Town! I do hope that many of them will join in the conversation  on a Monday night. 


All too soon the TeachMeet was over. All the people at my table loved the evening.  Melanie Whillier’s comment on Twitter summed it all up “What a fantastic experience, my first teach meet. Learnt so much and came away feeling so inspired.” The organisers assured everyone that they would be organising another TeachMeet in the third term. 

A report back on a TeachMeet at Somerset House on 23rd May 2012

Submitted by Fiona Beal
On Wednesday 23rd May at 17:30 I excitedly attended the TeachMeet in Somerset West at Somerset House Preparatory School. They were hosting the first ever TeachMeet in the Helderberg Basin, organised by their enthusiastic ICT teacher, Siobhan Louw.

There was an excited buzz with at least 30 teachers from the surrounding areas turning up to see what this was all about. We started off with a delicious light meal of a variety of soups and breads and then it was down to business!  There was a Twitter backchannel during the TeachMeet and Siobhan kindly presented each of the eight presenters with a small gift as they completed their presentation. 

Presentations


I was really impressed at how many of the presenters were from Somerset House. They are doing really well in their technology-integration.

Clair Craig (from Somerset House) presented on using Blabberize in Grade 4, Her Grade 4 class was reading the Sheep-Pig as their setbook and they really enjoyed creating talking animals as part of their lesson plan.

Debbie Underwood (from Somerset House) spoke on the MimeoView. This is not a free tool but she certainly convinced us that it is almost indispensible in a classroom!

Fiona Beal (that's me!) spoke on Classroom Dojo – a motivational tool for your classroom. This is a really cute way of rewarding individuals in a class or positive behaviours (and also losing points for negative behaviours).

Jenny Martin (from Somerset House) gave two presentations, one on Word Magnets and one on Wordstash which she says is a teacher's dream to use. Both these amazing webtools can really enhance a Language teacher’s lessons.

Pam Roberts (from Somerset House) spoke on her use of Purple Mash in Grade 1 for Mother's Day cards. Purple Mash is the online version of the 2Simple software.

Siobhan Lowe, the organiser (from Somerset House) spoke on how she successfully used Google Docs for a collaborative assignment. Siobhan also mentioned how her Grade 7s were enjoying finding relevant TED talks and writing brief reviews on them. If you would like to see which TED talks they enjoyed visit this link.

Michelle Botha (from Somerset House) also gave two presentations. She spoke on using Popplet to teach creatively about triangles in Grade 7. You can look at that presentation online: http://popplet.com/app/#/103497. Michelle also presented a very impressive writing project she did using stop animation and Windows Live Moviemaker. She said that the students actually taught her all the inns and outs of stop animation.

Siobhan’s report back


Siobhan Lowe, the organiser,  wrote a blog post about the Teachmeet which she called '‘Host a teachmeet and you’ll create an enriching PD opportunity’


“This past week saw Somerset House host its first teachmeet. Inspired by teachmeets attended by some of our staff at Elkanah House over the last year, we decided that hosting one of our own would be a good opportunity to expose more of our teachers to the sharing and learning experience that a teachmeet offers.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest challenges facing modern education is getting school staff to buy in and support the use of technology in classrooms. There are many reasons for this: age, fear, time shortages, tradition, ineffective resources and lack of personal exposure to technology. In my experience, it’s a combination of these factors that keep teachers from using and embracing many of the contemporary technological tools that have not only already changed the way we live, but that will most definitely impact on how today's youth succeed and progress through their own lives.

In our school, as in many others, the historical reluctance to use technology to supplement the education we provide is multifaceted. Recent technical improvements to our school’s computer system have seen a growth in the confidence levels in our teachers. Coupled with positive staff development and support from colleagues, it has been inspiring to see more of our teachers improve and  increase their innovative use of technology…. Read more here on Siobhan’s blog http://www.thattechteacher.com/.

We most certainly look forward to more TeachMeets in the Helderberg basin! Thank you for this initiative Siobhan!

PS. Since writing the post Siobbhan has advertised the next TeachMeet for Wednesday 29th August at 5:30 pm. Please keep watching Siobhan's blog for further details http://www.thattechteacher.com/