Customize and Add Videos from Drive to Slides

Google Slides is an amazing collaborative tool for students and teachers. In addition to adding YouTube videos, you can now add videos from Google Drive! How does it work?

STEP 1: Insert a Video

Insert your video by going to the Insert menu and choose Video. You can also use the video icon on your toolbar.

STEP 2: Choose Google Drive

Instead of inserting a YouTube video, you can now select Google Drive.

STEP 3: Choose Your Video

Choose your video from Google Drive. Once your video is embedded, you can right-click on your video and choose Video Options.

Video options will allow you to choose when to start and end your video, whether it should autoplay when presenting, loop your video, or  whether it should be muted or play with audio.

Conclusion: 

Not only is this a great tool for teachers, it can be helpful for students too. This is a great way to have students (especially under the age of 13), create and embed videos into your Google Slides presentation without needing to publish to YouTube. 

Upload Files and Images to Google Forms!

November is Clicks for a Cause Month! Check out how you can help a child in need below. 

Did you notice that you can use Google Forms as a way for users to upload files and images?

If you are a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) user, then you might want to check out the latest update to Forms called File Upload. 

NOTE: This feature  currently does not work on personal Google accounts. 

How Does It Work? 

Creating a Google Form File Upload Question

Create a new question in your Google Form and select the new File Upload feature. As you normally would for any question, provide instructions for users. 

Uploading Files 

Send out your Google Form like you normally would. When users come to the File Upload question, they will be prompted to upload any file from their computer or Google Drive (from 1 MB to 10 GB).  

Where Do The Files Go? 

When someone uploads a file or image to your Google Form, a folder is automatically created in Google Drive. The folder has the same name as your Google Form. Inside of the folder, you will see another folder for each File Upload question that you created. All of your files and images are in the folder! 

Conclusion:

Although Google Classroom is a great workflow solution, Google Forms File Uploads has a lot of potential. This is a great way of quickly collecting files and images from users without needing to create a Google Classroom. 

NOVEMBER IS CLICKS FOR A CAUSE MONTH! 

Addison Jacobs was born on 1/13/15, one month prematurely with unknown underlying medical issues. At nine months old, she was diagnosed with Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS), a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, bone marrow dysfunction, leukemia predisposition, and skeletal abnormalities. Addison requires a lot of care with all of her complex medical issues. All of her medical necessities trips to Philly for her care and time off work creates an enormous financial strain on her family.  

During the month of November, I need your help to make a difference for Addison and her family! Here is how!

• Visit and share blog posts - I will be personally donating 1 cent to her family’s medical fund for every blog visit for the entire month of November.

• Make a donation - for the price of coffee or lunch, make a donation to Addison’s fund via credit card, debit card, check, or cash.

• Contribute to Addison’s GoFundMe page

• Show your support with a Like - ​  “Like” Addison’s Facebook page and share words of encouragement!

Clicks for a Cause has been helping children in need since 2013! For more information, check out my Clicks for a Cause Page!

An Easy Way to Force Viewers Make Copies of Google Docs and More

How often would you like to create a template of a Google Doc, Sheet, Slide, or Drawings and force a viewer to make a copy?

Perhaps you have users visit the File menu and select Make a Copy. Maybe you use Google Classroom, which can do this automatically for students enrolled in your class.

I do a lot of presentations outside of my school, which means Google Classroom is not an option. Many of the participants in my audiences struggle with making their own copies, which makes finding an easy way (to have users create copies) essential. After doing some research, I found articles by Kasey Bell and Alice Keeler describing a very easy Google trick!

Here is how it works: 

1. Open up your item (Doc, Sheet, Slide, or Drawing)

2. At the end of your item's URL, you should see the word "edit." Change the word "edit" to "copy."

3. Make a copy of your URL and share with your audience

Now you have a quick and painless way to help your viewers make a copy of document, presentation, spreadsheet, or drawing.

An Easy Way to Force Viewers Make Copies of Google Docs and More

How often would you like to create a template of a Google Doc, Sheet, Slide, or Drawings and force a viewer to make a copy?

Perhaps you have users visit the File menu and select Make a Copy. Maybe you use Google Classroom, which can do this automatically for students enrolled in your class.

I do a lot of presentations outside of my school, which means Google Classroom is not an option. Many of the participants in my audiences struggle with making their own copies, which makes finding an easy way (to have users create copies) essential. After doing some research, I found articles by Kasey Bell and Alice Keeler describing a very easy Google Trick!

Here is how it works: 

1. Open up your item (Doc, Sheet, Slide, or Drawing)

2. At the end of your item's URL, you should see the word "edit." Change the word "edit" to "copy."

3. Make a copy of your URL and share with your audience

Now you have a quick and painless way to help your viewers make a copy of document, presentation, spreadsheet, or drawing.

QR Codes + Google Forms = Documentation Tool for the Classroom

Documentation has become increasingly important in our schools today. Especially, when it comes to tracking discipline and progress monitoring. A Google Form paired with a QR code provides you with an instantaneous way to log in information as it occurs.

Here is a quick tutorial on how you can make this work for you! Check out the my video or read below:

Step 1: Create a Google Form

Create a Google Form containing the type of information that you would like to collect. Here is a link to a sample Form that I developed. I suggest that you create a checklist (not multiple choice type of question) to quickly check off behaviors that you observed, as well as who you notified. It may also be helpful to contain a paragraph text box to further describe the incident.

Helpful Settings

Once a Form is published, it can be accessed by someone with a link; however, there are a few precautions that I would suggest that you take if you are a Google Apps for Education user.

• Go to the Settings Gear icon and choose "Restrict to (domain name) Users," so that you have to be signed into your district's GAFE account to access.  When you select this option, you will have the ability to check a box that states "Collect email addresses." This will automatically let you know if a student entered in data. This will allow you to have a friendly conversation with that student. 

• If you know that you are going to be away for a day or two, turn off your Form. In the Editing view of your Google Form, choose the Responses Tab and click on the button "Accepting Responses." This will prevent anyone from adding to your Form.

• NOTE: ALL OF YOUR DATA IN YOUR GOOGLE SHEET IS SAFE! Any data that is entered into your Google Form is safely protected in the Google Sheet attached to the Form. Students cannot access this information unless you personally share the Google Sheet with them.

Step 2: Develop a QR Code

When a Form is published, it can be accessed via a link. This can be helpful when sharing with others, but it may not be helpful if you need to quickly access via a mobile device. I suggest that you copy the link to your Form and use it to create a QR Code. I love using QR Stuff or QR Code Generator to create a QR Code.

Print out your QR Code and place it on your desk or a place in your room, where you can quickly access your Form. Use your mobile device to scan the QR Code and enter in your information.

Step 3: Analyze Your Data

It is important to remember that ALL data from a Google Form is compiled into a Google Spreadsheet. To analyze your data in your Spreadsheet, go to the Editing View of your Google Form and select the Google Sheets icon. This will open up your private Google Sheet filled with results. NOTE: Students CANNOT access this information unless you personally share it with them.

Use the filtering tools to filter by student, date, behavior, etc. You can even download this spreadsheet into an Excel or PDF file format to share with others. I would highly recommend that you send any information via PDF.


Conclusion: 

A Google Form paired with a QR code could be a viable solution to analyze behavior trends and provide valuable feedback to administrators, parents, and other staff.

New Quizzes Feature in Google Forms

Did you have a chance to look at Google Forms lately? If not, you may want to check out the new Quizzes feature in Forms! This is a feature many educators have been waiting for and here are some of its key benefits:

• It is easy-to-use and no Add-ons are required!

• The Quizzes feature grades work for you automatically! Set the correct answer and point value for each question.

• Students can see which questions they missed and receive feedback on the correct answers. 

• Students can receive instantaneous feedback after they have completed the quiz or control when results are released. This is an awesome feature in the fight against cheating!

Tutorial:

Want a quick tutorial? Check out my 3 minute tutorial: 

Conclusion: 

Educators understand the importance of providing students with timely feedback because it is an essential component of the learning process. In an instantaneous society, our students expect quick responses. The new Google Forms Quiz feature saves you time and helps make the learning process more effective. 

Using the New Google Slides Audience Q & A Feature

Google Slides recently added a feature that will make your presentations more interactive! The new Q&A feature provides audience members an opportunity to send you questions during your presentation.

How does it work? Check out my brief video!

Conclusion:

Google Slides Q & A is the perfect tool for any student to ask questions. It is perfect for the student who tends to dominate classroom discussion and the shy student, who finds it difficult to ask questions in front of others. With Google Slides Q & A, all students have the ability for their voices to be heard!

Schedule Posts in Google Classroom

Google Classroom just launched a cool new feature for posting announcements, assignments, and questions at a specific date and time. Google Classroom will automatically post your message in your class stream at the right time.

How does it work? 

1. If you are using the web version of Google Classroom, you will want to create an announcement, assignment, or question.

2. Click on the drop-down arrow next to the word "Post" and choose "Schedule."

3. Choose the date and time that you would like to post. Google Classroom will do the rest.

Conclusion:

I really like this feature because it gives you an option to plan ahead. You no longer have to post at the exact moment you need an assignment, announcement, or question. Google Classroom lets you plan days, weeks, and even months ahead!

More Than a Back Up: The Creative Ability of Google Photos

How often do you use Google Photos? If you are not familiar with this amazing way to backup and sync photos from all of your devices. Google Photos is available via your web browser, iOS App, or Android App.

After releasing it this time last year, I knew that this was a free service, which allows you to upload an unlimited amount of high-quality photos (up to 16 megapixels) and videos (up to 1080p). However, I have to admit that I didn't realize it had so many cool features.

 Google's advanced search tools let you search your pictures by location, date, and even by a person's face!

After tinkering around with the iOS Google Photos App, I found several useful editing and creation features:

1. Create and Share Albums with others. You can share your album via a link and have other Google users add pictures to your album. This is perfect for having a class photo album to create slide show presentations, videos, etc.

2. Create collages from your existing photos. Why bother downloading another App to create collages? You can now do this in Google Photos! This can be the perfect tool for having students demonstrating their understanding of the day's topic.

3. Create Animations of your images with the Animation / Video feature. This tool can be used to have students have their pictures tell a story through animation!

Besides the unlimited storage space, there are many useful content creation tools to make your pictures speak a thousand words. How do you use Google Photos?

Save to Google: A New Bookmarking Option

Where do you go to bookmark your favorite sites? Many of us turn to Diigo, Delicious, Pocket, Bookmarks in Chrome, and Pinterest. Have you ever heard of the Save to Google Extension?

Simplicity is what makes the Save to Google Extension extremely useful. After you install the extension, visit your favorite site or image and click on the icon to save. 

You will be prompted to Save to Google and enter in a tag to make it easier to find your favorite sites and images. There is even an option to import your bookmarks from Chrome. 

The best part is that your "saves" are collected and saved at google.com/save and sync to your Google account. Whether you have three saves or three thousand, the Google Save interface is extremely easy to navigate and access your saves from your browser. 

How to Create Form Limits with Form Ranger

Over the past few months, I have grown to love Google Forms and the Form Ranger Add-On to create forms with limits. I often use it for sign-ups, but it can be used to offer students choices. For example, perhaps you want to assign topics for students to present. Students can sign up on a first come first serve basis. Perhaps you want to differentiate an assignment. You could use Google Forms to limit the number of students choosing a particular task.

How do you create a Google Form with limits? I have created 2 resources to help you. 

Here is a brief video tutorial:

Here is a how-to guide: 

iOS Update to Google Slides

Google recently announced a nice update to Google Slides for iOS. If you have used this App in the past, you may have noticed that you were unable to change the background theme of slides. With this most recent update, you are now able to create amazing presentations with just a tap!

How does it work? 

1. Open up the Google Slides App on your iOS device


2. In the top-right corner of your screen, tap on the three vertical dots. This will open up a side menu.



3. Select "Change Theme"


4. Choose the theme that works best in your presentation.

Now all of the themes that you love in the web version of Google Slides are available on your iOS device!

Grade Individual Sections of Google Forms

I recently had a reader contact me about how they could link multiple Google Form Quizzes and have each quiz or part graded individually with Flubaroo. As far as I am aware, Flubaroo treats an entire form as a Quiz; therefore, grading each section individually will not work with Flubaroo.

I came up with a few work arounds that you might want to try. Each option requires that you make a separate quiz for each section. For example, if you wanted three sections for your quiz, you would need to create three different quizzes.

• Idea # 1 - Create individual quizzes in Google Forms, but link everything in a Google Doc. 

• Idea # 2 - After each "quiz" or section is finished, created a custom message with a hyperlink to take your next "quiz" or section.

Here are explanations of the two options:

Scaffold Instructions with Google's New Document Outline Update

Navigating long documents can be challenging. Google Docs just created a cool new update called Document Outline, which collates all of your headers within your document into a sidebar. Users can uses the sidebar to navigate from header to header within their document.

This amazingly simple-to-use feature can provide teachers with a valuable tool to scaffold and support learning! Read on to learn how.


How Can I Access Document Outline? 

Accessing this feature is very simple! Go to the Tools menu and select Document Outline.  NOTE: This feature is only effective if you use the Heading formats in Google Docs.

How Can I Use This With Students? 

Not every student learns the same way, which makes providing students with scaffolds and supports are important part of giving instructions. Whenever I have given assignments in my classroom, I have always found that there are three types of students:

• The experts who wish you would go away and disappear. 
• The students who need you to hold their hand and guide them through (the students we should be working with)
• The frequently asked question students, who often feel bad for asking you questions. 

The Outline Document feature is a perfect tool to help students navigate step-by-step instructions, answer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's), and access resources. 

For example, after I have composed my instructions in a Google Document, I often develop 3 - 5 frequently asked questions to address high-probability questions (and barriers). In order for it to appear in the Document Outline, I make sure that my questions (or section headers) are in Heading 1 - 5 Formats.

I often answer questions by providing resources, short video tutorials on how to complete the task, short text instructions. Frontload your instructions with scaffolds and supports, so that you can enhance learning and avoid frustration later. Now students can simply click on the hyperlinked question and get the answers they need!

Conclusion:

It is important to provide students with different ways to navigate documents and access information. The Google Document Outline is an easy-to-use feature that provides endless possibilities for teachers and students alike. 

Increasing #Accessibility with Improvements to Google Voice Typing

Several months ago, Google launched its Google Voice Typing tool in Google Docs. This free tool simply takes voice to text technology to help your students compose a writing assignment. Although not 100% accurate (when you think about it, what is?), it is still a valuable resource built into Google Docs.

Over the past several weeks, Google recently made several improvements to this awesome resource. Users can now make the following edits and formats in their document with voice commands:

• Select Text - you can use your voice to select a specific word, character, item, paragraph, or select all.

• Change Formatting - use your voice to change the alignment, text formatting, text color, or highlighting. Add bullets, indent paragraphs, change font size, or remove formatting. 

• Edit Your Document - copy, cut, paste, add headers / footers, and insert a table of contents. 

• Add / Edit Tables - insert rows, columns, and tables. 

• Navigate around your document

• Open Voice Typing help

• Turn on screen reader support

Click here if you want to see ALL of the options available from Docs Support.

Why This Increases Accessibility: 

Think for a moment about the barriers that writing assignments pose to students. One student may find it difficult to get their thoughts to paper. A student with cerebral palsy may find it difficult to type text, while a student with a broken arm may have the same challenges. How do you meet your learning goal of composing a paper, while addressing the needs of your students? Remember it's all about working smarter and eliminating barriers, so that students can spend more time learning and less time struggling.

Cheat Sheet for Creating Self-Grading Google Form Quizzes

If you are a Google Classroom user, you may find it difficult to give your students quizzes; however, you can quickly assess your students by using Google Forms. This is NOT a new idea, but many of my colleagues have asked me about it lately. Here is how you do it:

1. Create and Publish Your Quiz Using Google Forms

Google Forms provides you with a platform to ask multiple choice and text questions. You can even embed videos and pictures!  Just remember to have a section for students to enter their name. More on this later!

2. Create an Answer Key

Fill out your Google Form with the correct answers. It may be helpful to use the name "Answer Key" so that you can keep track of the correct answers.

3. Have Your Students Take the Quiz

Publish your quiz and have students take it!

4. View Results and Use Flubaroo

View the results of your "quiz" in Google Forms by accessing a Google Sheets with your results. You will also want to install the add-on Flubaroo (in Google Sheets) to automatically grade your results.

Here is a cheat sheet for the entire process:

Click here for the actual link to the presentation. 

5 Engaging Ways to Use Google Forms

Google Forms is one of my favorite tools because of the infinite possibilities it provides any classroom. Here are 5 ways that you can incorporate Google Forms into your classroom today:

1. Pre-Assessment Tool

What do your students already know? What misconceptions do they have? Creating a Google Form offers excellent tools like multiple choice, rating scales, and text questions to gauge your participant's knowledge. This is extremely helpful trying to get a temperature of your class, as well as making your lesson more effective and more efficient.



2. The Power of a Poll

Polls are a great way to measure likes, dislikes, feelings, and perceptions; however, they are also a great authentic teaching tool. You can use your own polls to teach students about statistics, bias, misconception, etc. Polls are not just limited to the math classroom because they can be effective in any classroom.

Want to teach your students about democracy? Why not have your own class election? Have students in your science classroom keep valuable data on experiments, types of species, etc. in a real-life environment.

3. Start your Lesson with a Bang!

The start of many lessons usually begins with a "hook" or way to engage students. Use a Google Form to embed a video (or picture) and a writing prompt. This is the perfect tool for any subject area because writing translates across the curriculum. Have students state their opinion, share a memory, summarize a concept, make a prediction, or share a current event.



4. Choose Your Own Adventure

Do you remember reading choose your own adventure books in school? Why not make your own "adventure" using a Google Form? Students become highly engaged when they have options or choices for what they learned.

I was recently giving a workshop to demonstrate how this particular idea might work. We had participants choose which college mascot they would like to learn about. Their choice directed them to a new page, where they would learn more about the mascot. I provided text and pictures, but you could also include videos and links.

When participants finished, they were directed to a page containing a brief quiz to assess their understanding. Want to see it in action? Check it out!

5. Tweeter Board

Want to get your student's tweeting without Twitter? Use the Tweeter Board template developed by Tammy Worcester Tang. This amazing resource is a Google Form that collects data into a Google Spreadsheet. It is a great resource to use the power and engagement of social media without needing to use social media! Click here to learn more.

Conclusion:

There are literally hundreds of other possibilities for Google Forms. What ideas do you have? I'd love to hear them!

4 Reasons Why Teachers and Students Should Use Google Keep

I have found that many teachers do not realize the power of Google Keep! It is one of Google's most useful, but little known tools available as an iOS App, Android App, and Google App.  Here are 4 reasons why you should use Google Keep:

1. To-Do or Not To-Do? That is the Question!

What makes successful people successful? They are efficient with their time. Why not create a new note to create as a to-do lists to keep yourself (or students) on task? Students could very easily use notes to keep track of homework assignments or keep track of tasks needing to be completed for an assignment. 

Best of all, notes can be customized in ways that work best for you:

• Add checkboxes so that you can "check" things off your list

• Set reminders based on your location or time

2. Plan and Collaborate

Collaboration is an important skill in the 21st Century and Google Keep provides an easy-to-use platform to inspire group planning. Students can easily share ideas, notes, and images with other users in realtime. 

Google Keep provides students with an opportunity to learn the art of prioritization, easily moving individual list items in a way that makes sense. 

3. Excellent Search Features

As you begin using Google Keep, you may find yourself creating numerous notes. With so much information, Google Keep provides you with powerful search tools to find what you are looking for by text or note features like labels, color, images, audio, and even who you shared your note with. 

4. Remind Yourself in the Way That Works Best 

We all learn and think differently, which means we plan differently as well. Whether color-coding notes or reminding yourself images, text, and audio (on the mobile App), Google Keep provides you with a way to keep information in a way that works best for you.  

Conclusion:

Have you tried Google Keep? I'd love to hear how you use it personally, professionally, and with students. 

#CoolChromeExtensions: Manage Your Open Tabs with Tabr

If you are like me, you may be prone to having too many open tabs in Chrome, which can lead to slow performance and clutter. Tabr is a great extension to free up RAM, , see a bird's eye-view of all of your open tabs, and keep yourself organized. The best part is that Tabr is extremely easy to use.

Here are some of the key benefits and features:

• You can see a bird's eye-view of open tabs, much like Safari. Visit any open tab by clicking on its thumbnail or even open up a new tab. 

• Too many tabs open? Use the Search box to search through your open tabs for the right one! 

• Archive a series of open tabs to use again later. To make it easier to find, you can rename your session. When you are ready to use your tabs again, just open up Tabr and your tabs will open in a new window.

• Do you want a faster Chrome experience? Tabr increases performance by reducing the amount of RAM Chrome uses through Auto-Suspending for Tabs. Basically, this feature "suspends idle Chrome tabs that take up precious memory." 

Conclusion: 

If you are addicted to open tabs, this could be a great tool for you or your students! Not only does this extension help you keep yourself organized, it also increases Chrome's performance. Who wouldn't want a faster browsing experience? 

Help Students Monitor Progress with Progress Bar Timer

How do you help students learn how to reach their goals? This is an important aspect of self-regulation or how we help students develop important intrinsic, self-assessment, and coping skills. Using a progress bar can be a great strategy to provide our students with a tangible way of measuring their progress.


















The Progress Bar Timer App is an excellent Google App that you could use to help measure student performance on your Chrome Browser. This is the perfect tool for Chromebook schools. After installing the App on your Chrome Browser, you or your students can measure performance in three different ways:

1. Counter

The counter feature is the perfect way to measure performance. Use it to count the number of books read or the number of pounds you shed. Simply add a bar, provide a description, then enter a starting value and ending value. Once your bar is installed, you can manually add or reduce the number.

2. Timer

The timer feature acts like an egg timer and provides a count down. This might be a perfect tool to help students keep track of study time, free time, and even exercise time. Need to take a break? You can pause the timer or reset it so that it can be used again.

3. Clock Feature

The clock feature can be a great study tool to help students visually see how much time they have spent on a task and how much longer they have to go. This is a great tool to keep things in perspective.

Conclusion:

Self-regulation is an important intrinsic, self-assessment, and coping skill that students (and adults) need to learn. Self-regulation can be thought of as "mind over matter." Sometimes changing our perspective or measuring our performance can help in achieving our goals! The Progress Bar Timer can be a great tool to tangibly measure student progress.