Students are often told to do research but are not taught how to search successfully. With instruction students can be much better at searching for both information and images. When using Google's web browser there are things you can do to limit the results such as inserting a minus sign between the terms an example search would be Garden-people. The order of terms also changes searches and students may not be aware of this or put much thought into how they are phrasing the search. The use of the word "and" means all the searches will have both parts. If you click on search tools after making am image search you can select things like picture size, color choices, type or images shown such as clip art ect. If the student clicks view image before copying or saving the image they will see the image in its actual size.
Google Apps for education Google Apps for Education is free. This includes user accounts for future incoming students. There is a small fee for the documentation service but still much cheaper than using Microsoft. Google apps for education is about 7 dollars a student.
There are a lot of Google apps and many ways to use them in the classroom. Below is a few that stood out to me but I have barely explored the possible apps.
Google Plus - like Facebook but people in separate circles. Make it easy to share information with only the group or people that want. You can view, manage, and share with your contacts according to the circle you put them in them. Also has communities that can help with professional growth. Communities are pages or groups that share similar interests.
Google hangout - brings conversations to life with photos, emoji, and even group video calls for free. Connect with friends across computers. Hangouts is a communications app that lets you send and receive messages, photos and more, and even start free video and voice calls — one-on-one or with a group!
● Include all your friends with group chats for up to 100 people.
● Say more with photos, maps, emoji, and animated GIFs.
● Turn any conversation into a free group video call with up to 10 friends.
● Make phone calls (and all calls to other Hangouts users are free!).
● Connect with friends across Android, iOS, and web, and sync chats across all your devices.
● Message friends anytime, even if they're offline.
Google earth - A fun tool to teach geography. It is easy for students to learn to use and you can get timelines and see how one place changes over time. Can also get videos and panoramic view of the moon and Apollo mission and many other topics. I was surprised to discover there is a global Grover which is very child friendly and combines sesame street and geography.
Google drive - A cloud bases word processor, that can also be collaborative. It has apps within it such as the presentation, and forms. You can see a history of edits on a shared document so as a teacher you could check and see if all the students in a group project did an equal amount of work. If only one person is working on the assignment then only one name will be shown. A teacher can also check to see when the work was actually done when the students claim it was done. Documents can be shared and then edited by more than one person. All edits are shown in real time and automatically saved. I have used Google drive for a long time and really love it. The documents are easy to organize and can be accessed anywhere anytime I have internet. The presentation app is easy to use and is my favorite way to do group projects.
Google Scholar - A Google search engine that searches scholarly articles. This is a great way for students to do research and is just as quick and easy as any Google search.
Other Google apps - calendar, maps, play, drive, news, (then click more) photo, books, wallet, (can click more again)
There are a lot of Google apps and many ways to use them in the classroom. Below is a few that stood out to me but I have barely explored the possible apps.
Google Plus - like Facebook but people in separate circles. Make it easy to share information with only the group or people that want. You can view, manage, and share with your contacts according to the circle you put them in them. Also has communities that can help with professional growth. Communities are pages or groups that share similar interests.
Google hangout - brings conversations to life with photos, emoji, and even group video calls for free. Connect with friends across computers. Hangouts is a communications app that lets you send and receive messages, photos and more, and even start free video and voice calls — one-on-one or with a group!
● Include all your friends with group chats for up to 100 people.
● Say more with photos, maps, emoji, and animated GIFs.
● Turn any conversation into a free group video call with up to 10 friends.
● Make phone calls (and all calls to other Hangouts users are free!).
● Connect with friends across Android, iOS, and web, and sync chats across all your devices.
● Message friends anytime, even if they're offline.
Google earth - A fun tool to teach geography. It is easy for students to learn to use and you can get timelines and see how one place changes over time. Can also get videos and panoramic view of the moon and Apollo mission and many other topics. I was surprised to discover there is a global Grover which is very child friendly and combines sesame street and geography.
Google drive - A cloud bases word processor, that can also be collaborative. It has apps within it such as the presentation, and forms. You can see a history of edits on a shared document so as a teacher you could check and see if all the students in a group project did an equal amount of work. If only one person is working on the assignment then only one name will be shown. A teacher can also check to see when the work was actually done when the students claim it was done. Documents can be shared and then edited by more than one person. All edits are shown in real time and automatically saved. I have used Google drive for a long time and really love it. The documents are easy to organize and can be accessed anywhere anytime I have internet. The presentation app is easy to use and is my favorite way to do group projects.
Google Scholar - A Google search engine that searches scholarly articles. This is a great way for students to do research and is just as quick and easy as any Google search.
Other Google apps - calendar, maps, play, drive, news, (then click more) photo, books, wallet, (can click more again)
Google Forms - is an app for creating assessments, quizzes, or polls. The app is easy to use and quick to learn. There are many choices for format options. You can also plan events, make a survey, or collect other information in an easy, streamlined way. You can connect to spreadsheets in Google Sheets. If a spreadsheet is linked to the form, responses will automatically be sent to the spreadsheet.
Uses - This is a great way to create an assessment whether it is just a quick quiz or a comprehensive final. The ability to be directly connected to a spread sheet allows for easy analysis of the data collected. The quiz is saved in cloud storage and can be used again either as is or an be quickly modified.
Reflection - I like the idea of this app and my experience with it so far. I have created assessments just for fun and to check out the app but I have never actually administered an assessment with it. The app was easy to use and I was very happy with how it was designed and surprised by the number of format options. If teachers were collaborating on creating an assessment this tool also allows for more than one person to view and edit a shared assessment which makes this a great choice.
Uses - This is a great way to create an assessment whether it is just a quick quiz or a comprehensive final. The ability to be directly connected to a spread sheet allows for easy analysis of the data collected. The quiz is saved in cloud storage and can be used again either as is or an be quickly modified.
Reflection - I like the idea of this app and my experience with it so far. I have created assessments just for fun and to check out the app but I have never actually administered an assessment with it. The app was easy to use and I was very happy with how it was designed and surprised by the number of format options. If teachers were collaborating on creating an assessment this tool also allows for more than one person to view and edit a shared assessment which makes this a great choice.
Gaggle is an online learning environment with the highest degree of CIPA compliance designed specifically for K-12 education. There are many features including safe blogs, calendar, assignments, digital locker, and discussion boards. Overall this is a classroom management service. Students can go to one place to communicate and collaborate.The digital locker is a place where files can be stored. Students can access Google, and drop box with gaggle. This is one tool that does a lot and allows for easy communication and collaboration. District two uses the safety features of Gaggle. Every student has an email account that is monitored by Gaggle. Each email is checked before it reaches the recipient. The emails are checked by a computer for inappropriate content if flagged they go to a live person at gaggle who checks it and stops it going through if it contains inappropriate or concerning content. Searches for threats, self harm messages, cuss words, and sexual content or comments. Three strike rule email warning, warning and administrator noticed, and finally account disabled and it is then up to district to say how long it will be disabled. If the email does not actually have inappropriate content the message is quickly sent on. Students are notified that their emails will be monitored and the three strike rule is also explained.
Uses - This is a tool that is currently being used in district 2 and many other school districts. This tool is something that the school or district will choose to use and set up. It it important for teachers to know about this tool and how it works but is not really a tool that is set up by a teacher. Some of the features can be used in the classroom such as discussion board and the digital locker. Some of the features listed in the image below include teachers being able to mark assignments, students being able to turn in work, and the class page and calender being connected automatically to the students schedule.
Reflection - I have no experience with this tool as a teacher or a student. It sounds like a great tool and is currently being used in the local school district. I am not sure how it is used in the classroom or what features I would use. I am glad that I now know about this too and can be prepared to see it in the classroom. I think that I would have to actually use this app to really understand it.
Uses - This is a tool that is currently being used in district 2 and many other school districts. This tool is something that the school or district will choose to use and set up. It it important for teachers to know about this tool and how it works but is not really a tool that is set up by a teacher. Some of the features can be used in the classroom such as discussion board and the digital locker. Some of the features listed in the image below include teachers being able to mark assignments, students being able to turn in work, and the class page and calender being connected automatically to the students schedule.
Reflection - I have no experience with this tool as a teacher or a student. It sounds like a great tool and is currently being used in the local school district. I am not sure how it is used in the classroom or what features I would use. I am glad that I now know about this too and can be prepared to see it in the classroom. I think that I would have to actually use this app to really understand it.