Tuesday 30th January 2018 If you are planning to present a YouTube video as part of a prepared lesson you want it to run immediately when you click the Play button. If your school’s Internet connection is slow or overloaded you may not be able to watch the video ‘live’. The solution to this problem is to download the video … Read More
What’s in a name? (Bluetooth)
Where did the name ‘Bluetooth’ come from? Would you believe 10th-century Danish royalty? And how about the origins of the Bluetooth icon? (Could come in handy for the next trivia quiz night!) Learn more at BetterCloud >>>
At last – easy Columns in Google Docs
Friday 28th November 2016 While Google Docs provides a great online editing environment, one of those application hangovers from days gone by was the need to use a workaround (adding a table) to create columns in a document. No more! Google have now added a Columns option to the Docs Format menu…. Click on More options to alter the spacing or add lines between … Read More
Organising Shared Documents in Google Drive
Thursday 20th October 2016 When other people share Google documents with you directly, those documents are available in Google Drive > Shared with me. By default, these shared documents are organised by date. Documents from multiple people (and even from people in multiple organisations) are all displayed in the one Shared with me folder list. This arrangement may be OK for … Read More
Create a Quiz in Google Forms
Tuesday 6th September 2016 Google Forms now includes a Quiz feature. We can now easily create a multiple-choice quiz, notify students of their scores immediately, or email the results when everyone has completed he quiz. Download the QuickStart step-by-step guide >>>
Google Slides gets Q&A feature
Friday 6th May, 2016 Google has announced a significant update to its web-based Google Slides with the introduction of a new Q&A feature that will allow the audience to ask questions from any online device during the presentation. The update also includes more presentation options for iOS, including the ability to present directly to a Hangout call. Google Slides also now includes … Read More
Chromebooks A-Z
Chromebooks A-Z is a one day hands-on workshop that equips teachers, school leaders and IT staff to become familiar with Chromebooks and their use in K-12 schools. Participants will be involved in activities to explore the features of Chromebooks and how they support the use of Google Apps for Education in the classroom. The local (Illawarra) workshop will be held at … Read More
Safer Internet Day (& 2Gb Free for Drive!)
Wednesday 10th February 2016 Google is encouraging you to check your account security today, topping up your free Drive account with an extra 2 Gb of space in return for you taking less than 2 minutes to check your account security. Complete the short checking process, and you will have an additional 2 Gb added to your Drive account. (And … Read More
Making an effective presentation
Tuesday 19th January 2016 With Australian schools commencing the new school year next week, many Principals and teachers will find themselves making presentations to other staff members at their Term 1 staff development day. Don’t become a death-by-Powerpoint presenter! If you are asked to share some information with an audience, it is usually because you have a worthwhile idea or message to share. … Read More
GAFE – Notify me when shared folders change
Tuesday 10th November 2015 If you share a lot of docs and files in your Google Drive, keeping up with who is editing which files can be a headache. Rather than setting up notifications on every document you share, you can be notified if any document in a particular (shared) folder is being edited. Although this functionality is not yet built … Read More
New Features in Google Apps
Thursday 3rd September 2015 Google has announced a swag of enhancements for Google Apps, just in time for the new school year in the US. New features have been added across Docs, Sheets, Forms, and Classroom. Learn more at the Google Apps blog >>>
Google Apps: hands-on workshops
Wednesday 12th August 2015 Are staff at your school embracing new Cloud technologies? Think3’s Scott Barnham will be presenting a one-day hands-on workshop on Google Apps for Education at Port Kembla PS on Thursday 20th August, at Port Kembla PS. These workshops are always popular, and are a great opportunity for all school staff to keep up to date with the … Read More
Create a website for your class
Monday 3rd August 2015 A class website can be used as a gateway to online resources to support class activities. Check out some examples and read the step-by-step guides to making a free website for your class. It takes less than 15 minutes to create a web site that not only looks very professional, but will also play a key role in ‘normalising’ … Read More
Technology is not a learning outcome
Tuesday 21st July 2015 A few years ago I walked into a classroom with a local District IT manager. The class of 9 and 10 year olds were working in groups, all engrossed in producing videos about their chosen topics. Some groups were constructing stop-motion videos, others were outside the classroom conducting hard-hitting interviews with staff. Other students were off in … Read More
Integrating Classroom, Doctopus and Goobric
Monday 13th July 2015 If you have previously used Doctopus and Goobric (to assess assignments with your pre-made rubrics), you will love the work that the gurus have put in to integrate these tools with Google Classroom. Great overview video from Jennie Magiera… Check out more Google Apps how-to guides >>>
Google Sheets Updates
Friday 19th June 2015 Google is continually updating and adding new features to their various apps. Some major updates have appeared recently in Sheets, adding new functionality to nearly every aspect of Sheets from chart creation to data display, and collaboration. Check out The Gooru’s overview of the new stuff in Sheets >>>
Google – Privacy check
We’ve all been there at some point or another… You just lost your phone and want to wipe your personal information; You attend an event, and you want to share your photos with some people (but not everyone); You hesitate as you download another app that’s asking for a lot of information. Everyday, we make choices that affect our privacy … Read More
Is that the right tool?
Tuesday 2nd June 2015 Yesterday I made reference to an article highlighting the inappropriate use of slide show software, such as PowerPoint. (Powerpoint should be banned) We can (and should) apply similar judgments to the use of technology in the classroom – digital technologies aren’t necessarily the best tool for many learning activities. It doesn’t hurt to be non-digital – in … Read More
Powerpoint should be banned!
Monday 1st June 2015 “Invented in 1987, the Microsoft presentation software PowerPoint is reportedly installed on more than 1 billion computers around the world. It is estimated that more than 30 million PowerPoint presentations are given every day. “But as PowerPoint conquered the world, critics have piled on. And justifiably so. Its slides are oversimplified, and bullet points omit the … Read More
Digital normalisation – the imperitive for all schools
Tuesday 19th May 2015 Digital normalisation occurs when the use of digital technology across all facets of the school operations is so natural, and so accepted, that it appears to be almost invisible. While the young people of the world, their parents and developed societies have normalised the use of digital technologies in their everyday lives, and moved their daily … Read More
The Evolution of the Employee
Monday 18th May 2015 The structure of the corporate workplace can be very different to that found in schools. While the infographic below (reproduced from Jacob Morgan) is designed to demonstrate the differences that our current students might find in their future workplaces, it also neatly captures the structures and purposes of current K-12 school activities, and the role of … Read More
Plugging in to Nature
Tuesday 13th May 2015 Presented by the Illawarra Environmental Education Centre, this Teacher Professional Learning event will explore the use of iPads to support authentic learning outside the four walls of the classroom. When: Monday 22nd June 2015Where: Illawarra EEC at Killalea For more details, and online registration… Download the Flyer >>>
Getting started with Google Apps
Tuesday 28th April 2015 Think3 is presenting a series of Google Apps workshops for teachers….. Google Apps for Education provides a mature, web-based suite of apps to support learning and collaboration in the classroom – on any device. Getting Started with Google Apps is a one day workshop that equips teachers, school executive and IT staff to explore the collaboration, flexibility … Read More
Add multiple teachers – Google Classroom update
Wednesday 22nd April 2015 Google has added a number of new features to Classroom, including the much-requested option to have multiple teachers for each class. A new ‘Invite Teacher’ button is now available on the class’s About page. Another much-requested feature is the option to prepare Assignments and Announcements ahead of time, and save them as a Draft, so that those items … Read More
Create a ‘Heat Map’ in Google Sheets
Tuesday 21st April 2015 Google have updated the Conditional Formatting feature in Google Sheets, with a major makeover. The example below shows how a business might use a ‘heat map’ in Sheets to provide a visual indicator of comparative success across financial periods. Teachers could apply a similar model to gauge student progress in academic indicators, such as reading levels, etc.
Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy
Tuesday 17th March 2015 When ‘pen and paper’ activities that focus on Lower Order Thinking Skills are transferred to a digital format, they don’t magically transform themselves to become activities that promote Higher Order Thinking Skills. As educators we must continue to focus on developing an appropriately challenging learning environment for our students, whether or not the activities involve the use of new … Read More
Free Google Slides Templates
Wednesday 11th March 2015 Spice up your next staff presentation, or your students’ book reviews or other class presentation activities, with one of these free Google Slides templates…. All fully editable – open a demo presentation in Slides, then go to File > Make a copy. Free Templates Slides Carnival template gallery Free Google Slides Templates Make your Own … Read More
Bloom’s Taxonomy – according to Seinfeld
The video below may be a useful discussion starter for your next curriculum planning meeting, or some pre-class viewing in a flipped professional learning environment…
2014’s worst passwords revealed
Friday 6th February 2014 Despite all the warnings, people persist in choosing easy-to-break passwords to protect their precious online data. For all the high-tech security threats lurking in the shadows, weak passwords are the easiest to fix, yet apparently the most ignored. It’s not that difficult to come up with complicated yet easy-to-remember passwords, it’s just that some people still aren’t prepared … Read More
Upcoming Professional Learning Opportunities
Wednesday 4th February 2015 Think3 offers professional learning courses focussing on the use of modern technologies in K-12 schools. Below is a list of upcoming courses… Managing iPadsIn this hands-on workshop, you will be guided step-by-step in how to use Apple Configurator to install the latest iOS, and a selection of free and paid apps. You will also learn how … Read More