Thursday 26th February 2015 Google is continually rolling out minor updates and new features to Google Apps…. This most recent feature update has been eagerly awaited – adding different headers (and footers) on the first page of a document to subsequent pages in the document. No need to download or install anything – the update is available now in your Docs. http://youtu.be/GAh2sZLCg84
Google Classroom Quickstart
Wednesday 17th February 2015 Have you begun exploring the possibilities offered by Google Classroom? Released in 2014, the Classroom platform continues to improve and regularly sees new features and updates. Classroom provides an ideal online classroom environment for schools using Google Apps for Education. Here is a getting-started guide for teachers new to Classroom (pdf) >>>
SAMR – ICT in your classroom
Wednesday 28th January 2015 As we commence the new school year (in Australia) there will be much discussion about the use of new tech devices by students in the classroom. Is technology redefining learning opportunities in your school? Or just dishing up more of the same with a new interface? Learn more about SAMR (incl a video in a Google Apps context) … Read More
Google signs student data privacy pledge
Friday 23rd January 2015 Google has joined Apple, Microsoft, and 90 other education-technology companies to sign the Student Data Privacy Pledge, according to an announcement on Monday from the Future of Privacy Forum, a non-profit group which created the pledge last year. Read more about this story at WSJ >>> Visit the Student Data Privacy Pledge site >>> More info about … Read More
Google Apps v Office 365 – For your school
The expectation by teachers and students of ‘anytime, anywhere, any device’ access to online services has resulted a rethink of software and file-server provisioning in schools. Many schools are now enabling student and teacher access to collaborative cloud apps and file storage services, which are accessible from school and home, on shared school computers and personal laptops and tablet devices. Which cloud service is … Read More
Google Classroom – Mobile App
Thursday 15th January 2015 Google has released native Classroom mobile apps for both Android and iOS to support it’s new Classroom platform. Also announced are two new Classroom features: a teacher assignments page and the ability to archive classes. Check out the intro video below….. Read more at the Google Education Blog >>>
Implementing Chromebooks in a K-6 school
Monday 15th December 2014 At the beginning of the year, Matt’s public school in Sydney purchased thirty-two Chromebooks to be used as shared devices in their school library. The Chromebooks were purchased to replace ageing desktops that used to make computer time in the library a challenging experience. When embarking on this journey, Matt was able to read plenty of case studies about schools in the USA … Read More
Grade quizzes with Flubaroo
Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Flubaroo is a free tool that helps you quickly grade multiple-choice or fill-in-blank assignments created in Google Forms. More than just a grading tool, Flubaroo also: Computes average assignment score. Computes average score per question, and flags low-scoring questions. Shows you a grade distribution graph. Gives you the option to email each student their grade, and … Read More
eLearning Summit (Illawarra)
Friday 21st November 2014 The Five Islands e-Learning Summit is a full day event, providing primary and secondary teachers the opportunity to develop their skills and understanding of current technology and how it is best used to support learning. The day will consist of three sessions, broken up by morning tea and lunch (both provided) allowing for practical hands-on activities … Read More
NYC approves Chromebooks in public schools
Tuesday 18th November 2014 The New York City Department of Education (DoE) announced Monday that it has approved Google’s Chromebooks for use in the city’s public classrooms – representing approximately 1 million students and 1,800 schools. The DOE also authorised the use of Google Apps for Education (GAFE), and put together a guide to implementing Chromebooks and Google utilities into the classroom. … Read More
BYOT – The very first step
Friday 7th November 2014 When schools move down the BYOT path – leveraging students’ own technologies to support the curriculum – much planning time is often focussed on which device (or devices) will be acceptable, how these devices will connect to the school network, how apps will be controlled, and other ‘technical’ hardware and software support issues. While all of this discussion and planning … Read More
Using iPads with Google Classroom
Wednesday 29th October 2014 While there are currently a number of workflow solutions and Learning Management Systems that work well with iPads, Google Classroom will likely become popular in iPad classrooms because of the integration with both the Google Drive and Google Doc’s iPad apps as well as any number of iPad creativity apps. Although there is not a dedicated app for Google Classroom, … Read More
Google Classroom – New Features
Wednesday 22nd October 2014 With Classroom released just last month, Google has already responded to the many feature requests. (I have no doubts that this will be an ongoing process). The first improvements include… Invite students more easily using Groups Mark assignments as “done” Improved teacher controls Export assessment grades to other gradebooks Sort students by first or last name Learn more about the … Read More
Word Clouds with Google Docs
Tuesday 21st October 2014 Word clouds, also known as text clouds or tag clouds, are a popular tools for visually analysing text – making it easy to spot word frequencies. The more frequently the word is used, the larger and bolder it is displayed in the image. Many teachers use word clouds as part of their learning activities, or to support their own … Read More
EasyBib – create a bibliography in Google Docs
Monday 20th October, 2014 Are your students are creating research papers in Google Docs? If so, there is a great (free) add-on they can use to build a list of their references. Using the EasyBib Add-on for Google Docs, students can easily create a bibliography and add it directly to their research paper, as shown in the video below….
There is more to GAFE than Drive
Tuesday 7th October 2014 Google announced last week that all 30+ million Google Apps for Education accounts around the world will have their Drive capacity increased from 30 Gb to ‘unlimited’ capacity. This is great news, and will make GAFE even more attractive for schools. There have been similar announcements recently from other providers of online file storage services. However, when considering the options for cloud-based … Read More
Drive for Education – unlimited storage
Thursday 2nd October 2014 Google have announced that all Google Apps for Education accounts will be upgraded to unlimited Drive storage. Read the Drive announcement, plus more info about other GAFE updates >>>
Intel Chromebook resources
Monday 22nd September 2014 Intel have gathered some useful information, case studies and resources for teachers who are implementing Chromebooks in K-12 schools. Visit the Intel Chromebook site >>>
New connectors in Google Drawings & Slides
Friday 19th September 2014 Google continues to quietly rollout updates and new features for Google Apps. The most recent addition, shown in the Gooru video below, brings elbow connectors and curved connectors to Drawings and Slides, and can be used to build flowchart displays, organisational diagrams, etc, in either app….
Google Apps – Arthur Phillip HS Case Study
Tuesday 16th September 2014 Arthur Phillip High School is a public secondary school in Parramatta, Australia serving 1,500 students in grades 7-12. Students at Arthur Phillip hail from 65 different countries and 90% speak a language other than English at home. Five years ago, Arthur Phillip began exploring options to embrace digital education. At the time, the Australian Government’s Digital Education … Read More
How to support BYOD without really trying
Monday 15th September 2014 Following the end of a government sponsored netbook program, Yass HS is working towards BYOD. BYOD poses particular challenges for schools that are used to working with school-owned computers installed with ‘standard’ software. Yass HS thinks they may have found an answer >>>
ASTD 2014
Monday 8th September 2014 It’s on a again – bigger and better than ever! One of the most practical, classroom-oriented technology conferences in Australia, the annual All Schools Technology Day will be held on Tuesday 28th October 2014, at Kiama Pavilion. The 2014 conference theme is ‘Learning in the Mobile Era’. Choose from a variety of hands-on workshops to explore … Read More
Google Forms Updated
Friday 5th September 2014 Google Forms has received a major makeover. Google has added a brand new collection of themes from which to choose, and these themes can be customised to fit your specific needs. Alternatively, you can start from scratch and create your own Form theme using your own images. Ad well as adding custom images, you can also change the … Read More
iOS apps for Google Docs, Sheets – and now Slides
Wednesday 27th August 2014 Google have announced the launch of their Slides app for iOS, along with updates to their Docs and Sheets apps. It is now possible to work on any file, on any device, at any time. The iOS apps save edits locally, syncing when you next have WiFi network access. Read more about the new apps at the Google Blog … Read More
Google launches Classroom
Wednesday 13th August 2014 Google yesterday officially launched Google Classroom. Classroom is now available for schools using Google Apps for Education – though I expect that there will be a ‘rollout period’ over the next month or so. Google have added a number of new features to Classroom, following feedback from the trial that has been underway since May. No doubt … Read More
Google Drive updates for teachers
Monday 11th August 2014 Over that past few weeks Google have announced a number of updates to Drive. Many of these updates are significant for K-12 teachers. These updates include new ‘Suggested Edits’ in Google Docs, editing Microsoft Word docs in their native format, and a number of new features in Google Slides. Check out a summary of the new ‘teacher features’ … Read More
Can Google continue providing free apps?
Wednesday 30th July Discussion around the lunch table recently turned to online office software, with a colleague expressing concern that Google Apps for Education (GAFE) would only be ‘free’ for a limited amount of time, then once everyone was hooked there would be an annual fee imposed. Maybe. But I doubt it. Read why at The Staffroom >>>
11 things to know about the new Google Drive
Friday 25th July 2014 Google Drive has a brand-new look and there are a lot of changes to discover. While many of theses changes are design and user-experience improvements, Google also added some new functions. Check out the video along with a list of some of Google Gooru’s favorite changes >>>
Checked your Google Drive lately?
Tuesday 22nd July 2014 Google have announced a redesign of Google Drive, and it is now being rolled out to all Drive accounts. Log into your Drive account to see if the upgrade is available, and follow the prompts to activate the new interface. The video below provides an overview of the changes…
Cloud Compare
Friday 18th July 2014 Dropbox was the first online file storage company to capture widespread public interest. It is a great service, with an easy to use interface, and apps for all mobile devices and OSs. However, Dropbox is no longer the only cloud file service available – there are plenty of others, often with better options for storing and sharing files. And all … Read More