10 interesting Google posts for teachers this week #3

Submitted by Fiona Beal

After looking through all the Google posts that were shared to my various subscriptions this week, these were the ten that caught my eye. 

1. Soon Offline Access Will Be the Default Setting for Google Docs and Slides
http://goo.gl/1Wj2tX
This is great news for schools where Internet access is intermittent. Over the next couple of weeks offline access will become the default setting for folks who sign into Chrome on the web and visit Drive, Docs, Sheets, or Slides.Bear in mind that you have to sign into Chrome.

2. My Favourite Chrome Extensions – Week of February 2nd
http://goo.gl/aiN5bL
These are four Chrome extensions that one can use with Gmail. Could be worth trying these out.

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3. 10 Google Slides activities to add awesome to classes

http://goo.gl/UI6XVF

I always like reading posts from Ditch that Textbook. Google Slides lets students collaborate and display ideas effectively. Create animation, story books, video galleries and more. Actually, there are vast possibilities with Google slides.

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4. Google Earth Pro is now free

http://goo.gl/1ZAIVN

Google Earth Pro has been available for free to teachers with GAFE email accounts for quite a while. Now it is available for free to anyone who wants to upgrade to Google Earth Pro.

                                                         



5. How to Enable Offline Use of the Latest Version of Google Drive 

http://goo.gl/3b5MTd

Using Google Drive offline will soon become default it is said. Currently you have to enable using Google Drive offline. Note that:

  1. Drive will only work offline in a Chrome browser window.
  2. You can use Drive offline on multiple computers, but you need to enable it on each computer individually.
  3. If you share computers with another person, you may not want to sync to that computer as it could give both people access to the files.
  4. If you are using Google Drive within a Google Apps for Education domain, your domain administrator will have to enable the option for users to use Google Drive offline.

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6. Chalk up – a wonderful Google Drive Tool for teachers

http://goo.gl/ZtNreM

Chalkup has finally made the move to Google Drive and created a seamless integration of Chalkup with Google Drive. Chalkup is a great web tool that allows teachers to create classes and share different study materials on a message board that students can access in real-time. Chalkup lets you post discussion prompts, add comments to discussions, distribute announcements and assignments and view files.

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7. Excellent Google Drive Resources for Teachers http://goo.gl/GOFEgS

This is a list of excellent resources to help teachers make the best of Google Drive in their classrooms. The thing with so many of Google’s services is that their power and usefulness lies in their hidden features. The resources in this post cover some of these features.

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8. Google Classroom Setup 

http://goo.gl/VK4VAx

This video gives a run down on setting up Google Classroom.



9. Five things every teacher should be able to do on YouTube

http://goo.gl/UZ6b6C

Here is what you will get to learn from these tips:

  • Know how to add subtitles and closed captions to your videos
  • Add and edit annotations
  • use enhancement features to improve your videos
  • How to use YouTube video editor to combine, trim, add music and customize your clips
  • How to search YouTube library for copyright-free music to add to your videos
  • How to swap the audio track on our videos

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10. Pixlr- A Great Google Drive Tool for Editing Pictures

http://goo.gl/LtXa7V

Pixlr Editor is a great photo editing tool that you can use to work on the pictures and images you want to use with your students or in your presentations. Pixlr is easy and simple to use and works right from your web browser. It is also integrated with Google Drive.

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