Colette Cassinelli’s edtech VISION

Google Document and Spreadsheet offers “Even More” by Mary Fran

Before we leave Docs to introduce you to more Google tools, I wanted to tell you about a few Google Document and Spreadsheet features you may not find in other office tools.

Document

Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Images

Ever get stuck for just the right word? No need to tab into a new browser window or grab a thesaurus, just click in the word, select Tools > Look up word > Look up synonyms. You can also look up the definition or find the word in the encyclopedia using the same tab. Want to find an image to make your point clearer? Select Tools > Search the web for word > Search the web for “word ” images. It’ll take you right to Google Images.

More on Revision

While up to 200 people can share your document either as viewers or collaborators, up to ten people can edit simultaneously. When working with a number of  people, you might want collaborators to use different colors to insert comments. This is easily done by choosing Insert > Comment. When the “Comment here” box appears, click on it and choose one of the six colors. When you go to print the document, you can choose to have it print without the comments without having to delete them.

You’ll know when another collaborator else is viewing the document at the same time you are. Their name will appear in a box at the top of the screen.

Offline Access

Google realized that you might want access to Document when you are away from the Internet. It’s easy to work offline but to use this feature, you’ll need to install Google Gears. On your Google Docs List Page choose Offline > Get Gears Now. You will then be asked to allow https://docs.google.com as a trusted site. Check the box next to “I trust this site. Allow it to use Gears.” Then, click the Allow button. When you go to use this feature, it may take a few moments to sync your files. But once this is done, you’ll be able to use Document anytime, anywhere!

When you’re working on an online document, you’ll notice a green icon next to your e-mail address. This indicates that you are working online.

When you are offline, type [docs.google.com] into your browser. (You may prefer to install a Google Gears short-cut to your offline document on your desktop.) This will bring up Google Docs. You’ll notice that the icon is now gray. You can now work on your document and when you go back online, your document will automatically be updated.

Spreadsheet

If you have URLs listed in a cell of a spreadsheet, you can go directly to its website. When you choose the cell, a blue border and an icon appear.

When you click the icon, the web page will open up in a new window.

Revision

Just as with Document, you can share a Spreadsheet with up to 200 people as collaborators or viewers. However, with Spreadsheet, up to 50 collaborators can edit the spreadsheet at the same time!

You’ll know when another collaborator is viewing or editing the spreadsheet because the you’ll see their name in the top right corner of the spreadsheet right under Share. A down arrow will appear. Click on it and you can chat about the spreadsheet, or anything else, with everyone signed in.

In Spreadsheet, you can receive an e-mail whenever a spreadsheet is revised by choosing Share > Set notification rules. You can choose to receive a daily digest of revisions, or an e-mail as soon as a revision is made!

I hope you have had some time to try Google Docs out. Forms has become a favorite of mine. It is so easy to poll students or to collect information from them. My third graders love to fill in the form and to see the analysis. Sharing the analysis with parents is easy, just provide them with the URL.

Colette and I would be happy to help you with Google Docs in any way we can. Feel free to reach me at mailto:maryfranlynch@gmail.com or Colette at ccassinelli@valleycatholic.org or colette.cassinelli@gmail.com

We’ll be back next week with a new Google Tool!

Tech Tip Tuesday is written and published weekly by MaryFran Lynch and Colette Cassinelli.  The archive of all tips are located at:  http://sites.google.com/site/techtipstuesday/

 So in conclusion, we hope that you keep our opinions and the opinions of other under 18-year-olds in mind during all your days in office.  We are considered to be too young to make a good decision while voting, but as you can see, we have our country and the whole world’s best interests at heart.  We would like to congratulate you on your amazing accomplishment, but also remind you of something you are probably told all the time: you have just accepted the job of either leading our country out of our “funk” or further into the dark.  We congratulate you and put our country in your hands and just ask you to keep us in your heart and mind.

Thank you for your consideration,

Katie M, Valiant Pride Assistant Editor

 *Geothermal power “is energy generated by heat stored in the earth, or the collection of absorbed heat derived from underground, in the atmosphere and oceans.”

—Wikipedia.com

Collecting data from multiples users has always been quite the challenge.  But now thanks to Google shared spreadsheets and forms – it’s a snap!

Just like Google Docs, spreadsheets can be shared with anyone.  This makes collecting information easier than ever.  Here are some examples of how I have used Google spreadsheets:

• Collect names, addresses and emails of group members
• Create a survey for opinions. votes, or preferences
• Collaborate with others for data collection (ie, fast food nutritional information, State facts, Historical data)
• Financial Planning or Budgets
• Project planning
• Student information

Here’s how:

1. Before you start, decide how you want users to enter the data on a spreadsheet.
   • Access a Google spreadsheet and add the data directly on the spreadsheet.  Note:  All other data will be visible.
   • Email a form and users submit the data right from their email program.
   • Link to the published form from a URL.
   • Embed a form into a webpage and users submit the data from the embedded form
2. You can create a new spreadsheet at http://docs.google.com by going to New / Spreadsheet. This will open a blank spreadsheet which you should name and save.  Enter your titles, data, or formulas and then click on the SHARE button to enter the email addresses of those you want to collaborate.  They will receive an email with a link to be able to access the spreadsheet.
3. Another option is to upload an existing Excel spreadsheet.  Now you can access this data from any computer.
4. If you would rather have the users enter the data into a FORM – go to New / Form and you will see the beginnings of a web form.  Add your questions and choose the type of answer:  text, paragraph, check boxes, multiple choice, choose from a list or Scale (1-n). When done, save and then choose to “publish” the form (it provides a long URL), “Email this form”, or from “More Actions”, get the embed code to embed the form into a webpage, wiki or blog.
5. When users enter the data into the form and press submit, all of the data will be dropped into ONE spreadsheet.  This is an excellent way to gather data from multiple users.

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FILL OUT THIS SAMPLE FORM AND VIEW THE RESULTS AT: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?key=p_VM5beL2JAol78Ek1DwkSQ

Tech Tip Tuesday is written and published weekly by MaryFran Lynch and Colette Cassinelli.  The archive of all tips are located at:  http://sites.google.com/site/techtipstuesday/.

By MaryFran Lynch

Revision

Last week we introduced you to Google Docs and gave you some ideas of times you might want to use the text feature to collaborate with your colleagues and times you might like to have your students use it. This week, we’d like to introduce you to one of the great features of Google Docs, Revision. The Revision feature keeps track of changes, when they were made, and, if the document has been shared with collaborators, who made them. It also gives you the opportunity to compare two versions of the document, and to revert to any of the previous versions. Whether you’re working on your own, or working with others, having a history of the different versions can be really helpful.

As a collaborator revises, their changes and comments can be made in different text colors. As a teacher, this gives you a great record of who has done the work, and when it was entered. You’ll need to be sure your students invite you to the Document as a collaborator so you have access to it and can revise it or leave comments on the document. And the great thing about leaving comments is that when you are ready to print, and click the Print link, none of the comments will show.

You’ll find this feature under File > Revision History
Teaching students how to revise is an important skill, especially when they are working collaboratively. Recognizing the need to teach that skill, Google teamed with Weekly Reader to help you teach revision skills in your classroom. Here you’ll find downloadable PDF files you can use with your students to help them learn collaborative revision skills.

Templates

Google has made it so easy to use Google Docs! They’ve even thought of a number of times you might like to use Google Docs and have made a Template Gallery with over 300 templates that are ready for you to use! You’ll find Templates under New > From template…

There you can perform a search for the kind of template your might like. There’s even a section devoted to Students and Teachers. You can find templates for your students to write a paper or for you to write a lesson plan. There are templates to help you make an online math quiz or templates to record grades.

But it doesn’t stop there. You’ll find templates for all kinds of things! Here are just a few examples of the kinds of templates Google is there to help you with:  calendars, invitations, gas mileage calculator. Take a look, more are becoming available all the time.

Just as with any Google Doc, you can share your template with others to collaborate or view, using the steps outlined last week.

Tech Tip Tuesday is written and published weekly by MaryFran Lynch and Colette Cassinelli.  The archive of all tips are located at:  http://sites.google.com/site/techtipstuesday/.

Google’s focus will always be providing high quality search results but many of their other products have revolutionized how individuals share information and collaborate on documents.

Image credit:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Usbdrive_icon.svg

I’ve been so busy hosting family this past weekend that I haven’t had a chance to finish my blog post about Google Teacher Academy.

First of all, I must thank Cristin Frodella from Google and the folks from Cue (Mark Wagner and Mike Lawrence), WestEd and all the returning GCTs for hosting this year’s Google Teacher Academy. It was truly a honor to be selected to represent Oregon and private school teachers everywhere at the academy.

I will blog about the new features of the Google tools that were shared …but for now I am just processing the experience.

Another huge thank you goes out to Sallie Hill and Brian Mull for starting the wikis that allowed us “out-of-towners” to virtually meet and make plans to get together. Meeting these fabulous teachers face-to-face made all the difference in my Google Teacher Academy experience. Our local tour guide, the PodPirate himself, organized get togethers the night before the academy (see photo above), that evening and a tour to Monterey Bay Aquarium the next day for those still in town (photos). Having the social time to meet and share ideas with the other GCTs was SO valuable that I recommended that next year’s Academy should encourage it!!!

I was already pretty familiar with many of the Google tools but the critical piece that I was missing was how easy it was to SHARE with others what you make with the tools. Cheryl Davis and Kathleen Ferenz are working on a cool project for the upcoming elections. Did you know that you can take an ENTIRE TAB from you iGoogle home page that you designed with widgets and RSS feeds and SHARE IT with your friends and colleagues???

I had seen Jerome Burg’s Google Lit Trips before and wanted to dive deeper into how he organizes these projects in the classroom but there was just too much to learn so I will explore more on my own.

Try Google 411 by calling 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411). Its’ Google new service that allows you to call from your cell phone and ask questions and look for businesses based on zipcode and if your cell phone has Internet, it will also provide maps. http://www.google.com/goog411/index.html#utm_source=us-et-more&utm_medium=et&utm_campaign=GOOG-411

Oh, there is so much more … EVEN MORE!

So, for now I am energize to plan how I will use all these great tools of Google in my classroom and begin working on some professional development for teachers at our school and in my area.

Meanwhile, check out the Google Almanac – created by Google Certified Teachers.

According to the Official Google Docs blog, you can now embed your Google Form into your blog or website so I thought I would give it a try. Please fill out the following survey …

Last month Google Docs sent out a request to educators to share how they use Google Docs in Education.  Selected entries are showcased on their blog and mine was chosen!!!  Here’s what i submitted:

In my attempt to avoid sitting through days and days of PowerPoint presentations in my high school computer classes (and boring the students in the process), I decided to upload each of my students Online Safety PowerPoint’s to a Google account and the class joined the presentation. One student talked aloud while everyone listened and chatted about the presentation.  The students asked questions in the chat, added their own information and followed along in the presentation.

For the first time I can EVER remember as a teacher – 100% of the students were engaged in the presentation and participated in the chat.  The students were enthusiastic and offered insightful and appropriate comments.  The students liked being able to add their input without interrupting the presentation.  I will definitely use Google shared presentations again.

I love Google Docs and use them all the time in my classroom.  Here are a few other ideas:

• Editing stories written by newspaper staff
• Collecting addresses for mail merge
• Surveys
• Collaborative group planning for projects
• Collecting real time data (science experiment, calorie counting, etc)

Check out how other Educators are using Google Docs here!

Colette’s (updated) Top 10 Tools

1. Gmail. I love this web based email system and the fact that I can access it from any computer. Not only do you get tons of storage but I like the way it keeps the threaded conversations together. Gmail chat is also nifty.
2. Google Docs. Google docs are great for collaborating and sharing information with others. You must invite friends to participate in your documents but it’s so easy to edit ALL AT THE SAME TIME!!!.
3. iGoogle Ok, ok, so I love of all the of the Google products – but I do use them and find them easy to use. iGoogle is a personalized page (which I make as my own homepage) that you can customize with all kinds of widgets like: weather, calendar, CNN news, Google Reader (RSS), Gmail notifier, jokes, etc…
4. del.icio.us. I can’t believe how much I depend on this social bookmarking tool to remember sites I have visited but also for sharing cool sites with my friends. Now I don’t need to be that annoying friend who always sends emails recommending websites (I can’t help myself) – if I find a site and know my friend’s del.icio.us name I can tag the site as: for:ccassinelli and then when that user goes to their del.icio.us account they can add my favorite to theirs. This is very helpful for group projects!
5. flickr. This web-based photo sharing site is awesome for uploading photos to share with friends. I like how you can create different albums and tag photos for easy sorting. I also love snooping through my friend’s albums too!
6. My first RSS aggregator was Bloglinesand I still use it today. I like how I can create folders for all of the ed tech blogs I read. Here are my folders: personal, ed tech bloggers, under consideration and last chance. When I stumble across a blog I might be interested in I add the feed in the under consideration folder. When I find that I enjoy the blog and read it often it moved up in rank to the ed tech bloggers folder while some of those are demoted to last chance before I decide to do away with the feed.
7. Audacity. This easy to use FREE audio editing software is easy to use for podcasting and editing audio files. You will need the LAME Mp3 encoder if you want to export your audio files at MP3 instead of WAV – but it’s easy to download and install.
8. Wikispaces. I’ve already mentioned my love of wikis in my blog but for collaboration and easy editing – wikis are the way to go. I also love the fact that Wikispaces gives FREE wikis to teachers. Thanks for the support!
9. Voicethread – A great tool for encouraging collaboration in your classroom. Upload photos and add text, audio or voice comments with a web cam. My new personal favorite way to get students to share comments with each other.
10. Moodle. I started using Moodle this last year with a few of my computer classes but will use this open-source course management system with all my classes this year. It’s easy to use, has built in blogging and modules (quizzes, journals, docs) that make it easy to keep all class documents in one area.

TOP 100 TOOLS FOR LEARNING – SPRING 2008
as collected by Jane Hart

2007 Top Ten Tools: http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/recommended/colettecassinelli.html (my current list is pretty similar to the 2007 list. Hey – I like what I like!)

Photo Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/cayusa/2221656599/