Google Docs Dropdowns

 Under the Insert menu in Google Docs, you will now find the option to add dropdown fields into your doc and customize them. You can use this feature for multiple-choice questions, rubrics, student self-assessments, or project trackers. Check out these Google Docs Dropdown examples!

Closing Tabs on Accident?

 

Method to change the ‘default’ of Google Docs to ‘Anyone with the link’

The default share settings in Google Docs are automatically restricted. The rationale for this restriction is for privacy reasons, especially if Google Drive replaces your hard drive. This can become time consuming when you’re constantly changing every public-facing document for parents, colleagues, or administrators to ‘Anyone with the link’ or to anyone in the network (Parkway Schools).

To alleviate changing public-facing Google Doc every time, consider creating a folder and setting that folder share settings to ‘Anyone with the link.’ Then, any doc you put in that folder automatically has those permissions. For example, you can create a Parent folder with a share setting to ‘Anyone with the link’ to view or a student folder with a share setting to ‘Anyone in Parkway Schools’ to view. Or create a folder within your PLC and share the folder with members in your PLC.

Google's Applied Digital Skills Lessons

Students are allowed to keep their Chromebooks home over the summer - so reinforce and/or enhance your kids’ digital skills throughout the summer with Google’s Applied Digital Skills lessons. You kids can make pixel art inspired by Frida Kahlo and Mexico or create a comic strip in Google Drawings. You can also learn job-ready skills from anywhere with the video-based lessons. Have a wonderful and relaxing summer with the family!

Voice-Typing in Google Docs

If a student is having trouble writing or typing his/her thoughts on paper, consider voice-typing in Google Docs. This allows the student to talk out ideas and is helpful for those who have difficulty typing as quickly as the thoughts come into their head. This is also great accommodation for students with written expression disability.

In a Google Doc (and Slides), go to the Tools menu and select Voice typing. Punctuation is not automatically included, and your child will need to do some editing after voice-typing. Check out this 2-minute video demo!

Google Drive Storage Tip: Purge large, unnecessary files

Google announced that starting in July 2022, schools and universities, such as Parkway School District, will pay for storage. You can sort your files descending by size in the Drive Storage quota and delete your largest unnecessary files. In Google Drive, select Storage and reorder to find and delete your largest files. Purging unnecessary videos or large files can help free up storage space. You can also delete previously taught Schoology or Google Classroom shared course folders in your Google Drive.

For more Google Drive tips, check out the blog posts: Create an ARCHIVE folder in Google Drive and Google Drive folder tips.

Create an ARCHIVE folder in Google Drive

Your preferred learning management system (Schoology and Google Classroom) has a folder for your courses in Google Drive. This folder allows your students to share their assignments with you. Simplify this digital storage by creating an Archive folder. Doing this will allow you to quickly find the materials with the current courses. To do this:

1. Go to your Google Drive and select for the folder associated with your preferred learning management system

1. If you use Schoology, the folder is called Schoology Google Drive Assignments and/or Assignments.

2. If you use Google Classroom, the folder is called Classroom.

2. Right-click and select New Folder

3. Name this folder ARCHIVE

4. Drag and drop all the previous courses taught into the ARCHIVE folder

Do this AFTER the course has completely ended, with the final grades submitted. DO NOT do this with a live course because it will mess up the communication between the learning management system and Google Drive.

For more ways to organize and personalize your folders in Google Drive, check out the Google Drive folder tips blog post.

Slides Toolbox

Slides Toolbox 

Slides Toolbox lets you to cut the clicks on repeated tasks and brings features for organizing and unifying data in Google Slides.

 

Google Drive Folders Tips

 While the search feature in Google Drive is helpful and amazing, sometimes it may feel as if you are searching in a black hole. One way to organize your Google Drive is to create folders. Think of folders as ‘boxes’ for storage. Some tips for organizing your folders in Google Drive:

• Use consistent naming and numbering. You can organize your folders by year, subject, and/or type. 

• Add colors to folders. To do this, select the folder and right click. You will see Change Color next to a paint palette icon. Choose colors that make sense to you.

• Add emojis for a visual effect. To do this, go to emojopedia.org to search for the emoji you want. Copy it. Select the folder you want to edit and press ‘n’ to change the name. Put your cursor BEFORE the name of the folder. Then paste.

Time spent creating an organized structure in your Drive means having more time and energy for other tasks. Depending on the state of your Drive, this could be a lot of work. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Take pride in even the smallest accomplishment!

Parent Pointer: Better Google Search

 

Emphasize words in a Google document’s comments

Last week, Kristen highlighted using the Mote extension to give audio feedback or directions to students. To continue with the topic of feedback, did you know that you do NOT have to use ALL CAPS to emphasize words in a Google document’s comments? You can style text by enclosing within *, _, or - for *bold*, _italic_, and -strikethrough-. Check out @TonyVincent’s image on Twitter below. 

If you find yourself making the same comments repeatedly, consider setting up canned feedback in Google Docs or Slides.

Mote

 

Verbal feedback is powerful, effective, and efficient.  Research has shown that students are three times more likely to implement verbal feedback rather than written.
Mote is a Chrome extension that lets you easily add voice comments and feedback to shared documents and assignments. 

Mote is integrated into Google Docs, Slides and Sheets, as well as Google Classroom, for easy recording and playback. You can create voice notes for any website or application using the 'motepad' within the mote Chrome extension menu - simply click on the browser icon to access.

In Docs: Insert a comment, click the Mote icon and record!  Students see a message with a clickable link to hear your voice note.

In Slides: Click the Mote icon in the menu bar and follow the prompts.  When finished, place the icon where you’d like and use the format options to set how you would like it to play.  You can also change the image to something more appropriate for the slide deck. (right click-replace image)

In Forms: Click on the Mote icon in any question to create a recording of the question.  Currently, there is one Mote per question.  

Parent Pointer: Grouping Tabs

 

Flippity.net

Are you interested in creating a virtual escape room but perhaps daunted with setting up response validation in Google Forms? Start small with Flippity’s Scavenger Hunt! Enter the questions and answers (‘locks’ and ‘keys’) into a Google Sheets template and follow the detailed instructions to transform your spreadsheet into an escape room!

→

Flippity.net has other templates to turn a Google Sheet into a board game, crossword puzzle, Mad Libs, and more. Some instructions are simple enough that you can even have students create their own! In each case, check out the demo, and then use the templates and detailed instructions provided to transform your spreadsheet. Happy creating!

Parent Pointer: Creating Bookmarks on the Chromebooks (really in Chrome)

This post was originally posted on December 9, 2020, and has been updated as a reminder or a tech tip for Virtual Campus parents.

Help your child navigate to a video conferencing room with just a click of a button! To do this on the Parkway-issued student Chromebooks:

1. Click on the teacher’s video conferencing link to get the web address. 

2. Highlight the star at the end of the web address to add it as a bookmark. 

3. Change the name of the bookmark to the teacher’s name or the subject.

4. The icon with its name will appear below the web address. 

Now all the student has to do is to click on the icon or name and he/she will go directly to the video conference. You can also create bookmarks with shared Google Docs/Slides agendas. No need to click and search for the link in Schoology. Here’s a short video (less than a minute) to help guide you through the process. Good luck!

Helpful Google Extensions

Extensity

If you have many tabs open (even if you group your tabs), all of your extensions will run on those tabs which slows down your Chrome web browser and computer. Check out Extensity for quickly enabling and disabling all of your extensions for Google Chrome. It keeps your toolbar clean and you can quickly turn all extensions off (and back on) with a single click.

Teacher Tip Dualless

Having a second monitor is extremely productive for virtual teaching. If you do not have a second monitor, check out the Dualless extension. It splits your browser window two by just 2 clicks. You can choose one of the preset ratios according to your needs. This will be helpful when you are sharing your screen at the next virtual faculty meeting with only your laptop :)

Grouping Tabs

 

Grouping Tabs Teacher Tip

Are you a tab minimalist or a tab extremist?

This Google update will help both groups.

Watch tutorial video here.

Parent University

 

Are you interested in learning more about the online platforms that Parkway is using with students during distance and virtual learning? 

Parent University is a course created in Schoology, our district Learning Management System, that has information about Schoology, Google for Education, videoconferencing, and digital citizenship. Within the course you will find information that will help you understand the tools students use as well as opportunities for you to experience the tools from the student perspective. The goal of the course is to support you in feeling confident that you can help your child(ren) with online learning in Parkway. While you are welcome to explore the materials in any order, it would be beneficial to work through the Schoology folder first to learn how to interact with tools you will encounter in other folders. Follow these directions to enroll in the Parkway Parent University Schoology Course! Be sure to scroll down to page 2.

Written By: Elegan Kramer

Tips and Tricks for Organizing your Google Drive

How do you rename something in Google Drive? Do you right-click and select rename or do you select the file/folder and type ‘n’? Check out these tips and tricks for organizing your Google Drive. While the search feature in Google Drive is helpful and amazing, sometimes it may feel as if you are searching in a black hole. Time spent creating an organized structure for your Drive in the summer means having more time and energy during the school year for teaching. Depending on the state of your Drive, this could be a lot of work. Don’t overwhelm yourself. Take pride in even the smallest accomplishments!

Parent Pointer: Applied Digital Skills courses

What will you do this summer? Play this Mad Libs to find out!

Keep you and your family's digital skills sharp with Google’s Applied Digital Skills courses. The Applied Digital Skills curriculum consists of free resources designed to build digital literacy in education and for jobs. For example, you can have fun with digital arts and games by making Mad Libs such as the one above and making pixel art with Google Sheets. Or take virtual field trips and explore art from home by going on a scavenger hunt through Italy or exploring the History of Humankind in Kenya. Model positive digital citizenship by evaluating the credibility of online sources or understanding your digital footprint.

What digital skills will you learn this summer?