Change to default avatar for Google account owners

Change to default avatar for Google account owners

Posted: 30 Sep 2015 01:41 PM PDT

Google account owners with Google+ enabled have the option to add a photo to their account profile to signify when they are logged in and help make it clear which account they are using. To extend these benefits to those account owners who haven’t added a photo to their account, we’ll be replacing the default Google account avatar with a custom avatar showing the account owner’s first or last initial (or digraph, where applicable), depending on the structure of their name. In some cases where initials are not available, a color alone will be used.

Starting this week, Google Apps users* with Google+ enabled who haven’t set an account photo will see this change in the Google Bar. The change will be gradually reflected across all Google products over the coming months.

*Note: Users with initials using scripts other than Latin, Cyrillic, Greek, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean will see this change later this year.

Launch Details
Release track:  
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Let's #CelebrateMonday!

Hi everyone, let’s #CelebrateMonday!  

The idea behind #CelebrateMonday is to kick off the week by celebrating something positive. Teachers, students, and parents are excited about coming back to school after the weekend to share out the exciting things that they are doing. This huge movement of positivity was started by Sean Gaillard, a high school principal in North Carolina, with a simple hashtag, #CelebrateMonday.

Here’s how it works:  just tweet out some of the positive things happening in your school with the hashtag #CelebrateMonday. That’s it. J

In your tweets, you can showcase student work, give a shout-out to a colleague, or show some team spirit!

This link will take you to some of the positive things that people are sharing.

Twitter is an amazing place to find educational resources and connect with educators from all over the world. Many members of our #WWPRSD community are on Twitter. You can find a list of WWPRSD educators using twitter here.  

(If you would like help getting started on Twitter, speak to the technology resource specialist working with your building.)

Have a great Monday!

Google Classroom's Integration with Calendar

How Google Classroom Enhanced a Math Lesson

This past week I had the opportunity to participate in a 6th grade math lesson.  Both Linda Scanlan & Taylor Sternotti planned and carried out the lesson via Google Classroom.  All three of the 'create' functions on the classroom's Stream were utilized.  They first 'announced' the lesson by posting an invitation.

During the lesson, they posted an 'assignment' using Google Presentation for the students to plan out and solve the questions of date, place, and host.

Finally, the lesson utilized the 'create question' function by having the students submit their answers to the invite.

Here's what Linda & Taylor said about their lesson:

"Lesson title: Math Mystery Ball

First, we sent an invitation prior to the lesson to all students by sending an 'announcement' through Google Classroom with the invitation attached. Students were intrigued by the invitation. We sent a Google slide presentation with information students needed to complete the activity. The learning objective was for students to be able to reason, abstractly and quantitatively, to solve real world problems using the strategy 'Use Logical Reasoning'. Students needed to solve three logic problems to correctly solve the mystery of when, where and who was hosting the party. Google Classroom provided students with the file on the Chromebook, therefore, they were able to work at their own pace and provided diagrams for visual learners. We sent a question to all students, through Google Classroom, that asked the three details of the Math Mystery Ball. When students solved all three logic problems, they then submitted answers to the question. As a formative assessment, the teachers were able to see students’ responses and comment on each student response in real time. This provided immediate feedback for students to move on to the next activity in the classroom or revise incorrect answers. Students were actively engaged in the lesson and had felt a need to solve the problem correctly. Thanks to Liz Keller for providing the activity."

What the Tech? Sharing Web Resources

More formatting options after pasting content in Google Sheets

More formatting options after pasting content in Google Sheets

Posted: 21 Sep 2015 06:13 PM PDT

By default, when you copy and paste content in Google Sheets, the formatting of that content is maintained (unless you use the Paste special function). This launch gives you alternative formatting options at your fingertips, allowing you to paste only the values contained with a cell (e.g. the numbers or text, without any formatting) or the formatting of the cell itself (e.g. the fill color or border design). Each option is easily accessible—after you paste, a small widget will appear in the bottom corner of the cells you’re pasting into. Clicking on that widget will show you the option to Paste values only or Paste format only. Interested in saving even more time? In Chrome, use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + V to automatically paste values without their formatting.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

An Issue w/ Google Classroom's 'Turn In' Feature - FIX

I had a couple of teachers, recently, bring an issue to my attention about the 'Turn In' feature for assignments in Google Classroom.  The student would try to 'Turn In' an assignment and they would get an error message:

Here is a resource I put together to assist them on how to fix this issue themselves:

View 'Turn In' Fix full version on Tackk
Create your own customized Tackk page

Google Classroom: Mission Control

What the Tech? Thursday, September 17th

What the Tech? Thursday, September 10th

Presenting on the go and charts made easy in the Google Slides and Sheets Android apps

Presenting on the go and charts made easy in the Google Slides and Sheets Android apps

Posted: 16 Sep 2015 01:47 PM PDT

As previously announced, you can use the Google Slides app on your mobile phone to present to any screen using Chromecast, AirPlay, or Google Hangouts (Android only). This launch makes that task even easier for presenters, allowing them to change and preview slides from their phone’s lock screen and to toggle between a presentation and video in a Hangout.

When presenting, it’s important to keep your audience’s attention. Typing and retyping your mobile phone’s password to unlock your screen and advance your presentation can be time-consuming and distracting. With this launch, when you use the Slides Android app to present to a Chromecast device or Hangout, a notification will remain on your phone’s screen, even when it’s locked. Clicking on that notification will give you options to move forward or backward through your slides or to exit your presentation entirely.
  
Because sometimes you want to see your audience, this launch also makes it possible to switch to video when presenting to Hangouts via the Slides Android app. It’s easy—simply tap the video camera icon at the top of your screen to view and pin other Hangout participants.
    
In addition to the above enhancements to the Slides Android app, this latest release also includes improvements to the Google Sheets Android app. Charts in Sheets allow you to display data in ways that are often easier to understand and more compelling. You can already create a multitude of charts in Sheets on the web; with this launch, you can insert charts and change their type using the Sheets Android app as well. For instance, if you insert a bar chart from Explore, you can now quickly and easily change it to a column chart directly within the app.

For more information on these new features, check out the Help Center articles below.

Launch Details

Release track:

Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:

Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:

All end users

Action:

Change management suggested/FYI

First Tech Tip of the 2015-2016 School Year

Back to School Ipad Activities

As the new school year begins, we all know getting to know each other and establishing a classroom community is a top priority.  Below are a few simple ideas for mixing up your usual activities and allowing the students to get creative with technology! These activities also set the tone that collaboration will be a huge component of your classroom.  A bonus reason to use iPads the first week of school – you are refamiliarizing your students with the iPad basics right away!

1. Make a “Friend Diagram” using the app Venn Diagram or Tools 4 Students-Students interview a partner and then work together to make a venn diagram noting their similarities and differences.
2. Create an “Talking Artifact” using the Chatter Pix app.  Students take a picture of their artifact, draw a mouth on it, and record how the object represents them.
3. Have students create word clouds to describe themselves to the class using the Wordle app.
4. Have students go on a QR code scavenger hunt in teams to get to know each other and learn about your classroom/school in a fun, engaging way. Or give them a list and have each team take pictures of the items they find using Pic Collage.
5. Using Popplet, allow teams to discuss and create hopes and dreams for the upcoming school year.

*All of the apps mentioned are FREE!

If you need any help implementing or planning these activities, please reach out to me and I will be happy to work with you.

A brand new Google Apps Marketplace

A brand new Google Apps Marketplace

Posted: 03 Sep 2015 08:16 AM PDT

The right tools help organizations succeed. The Google Apps Marketplace makes it easy for admins and employees to find these tools by offering hundreds of third-party applications that integrate directly into Google Apps for Work. Today, we’re revealing a brand new site for the Google Apps Marketplace that makes this process even simpler. A new home page highlights the most popular apps, new arrivals, and more, while search functionality and the navigation bar make it easy for users to find the apps they need.

Check out the new site at apps.google.com/marketplace. A few things to keep in mind:

§ If you’ve disabled the installation of some or all third-party Marketplace apps for your employees (in the Admin console under Apps > Marketplace apps > Settings for Marketplace apps), they will not be able to install those applications from the new Marketplace.

§ End users can only see end-user apps in the Marketplace; admins can see both admin-specific and end-user apps in the Marketplace. If you want to access admin-specific apps, please be sure that you’re signed in with your Apps admin account .

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Multi-select files for offline use, quick sharing and more with the latest version of the Google Drive iOS app

Multi-select files for offline use, quick sharing and more with the latest version of the Google Drive iOS app

Posted: 03 Sep 2015 09:58 AM PDT

A new version of the Google Drive iOS app is coming to the App Store over the next week. New features include:

§ Ability to select multiple files to keep offline, star, or organize

§ Share, rename, or view details for a file more quickly

§ Performance improvements

Launch Details
Release track:  
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users
 
Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Upcoming change to Google Calendar URL: www.google.com/calendar

Upcoming change to Google Calendar URL: www.google.com/calendar

Posted: 03 Sep 2015 04:16 PM PDT

In an effort to further increase security, in the coming weeks we’ll be changing the main Google Calendar URL from 'www.google.com/calendar' to 'calendar.google.com.'

Following the launch, the old Calendar url will simply redirect to the new one, so the overall impact of this change on Google Apps customers should be minimal. A few things of note:

1.     Some Chrome extensions that depend on the old Calendar url may stop functioning properly if not appropriately updated by their developers. We have reached out to developers to ensure they have enough time to make any required changes to third party extensions before the URL change. However, if you notice any issues, please check the extension for an update or contact the extension’s developer. Any internal browser extensions should be updated as well.

2.     People using Calendar who get gentle notifications will need to grant Calendar permission again for this feature to work. A web browser prompt will automatically ask users to allow calendar.google.com to post notifications. This may look different depending on the specific browser.

3.     Apps customers parsing the old Calendar URL structure for any custom tools, etc are advised to update them to also reference the new URL structure.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release in late-September, with Scheduled release coming two weeks later (monitor the launch calendar for specific dates)

Rollout pace: 
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users
 
Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Hangouts services to be served from ‘hangouts.google.com’

Hangouts services to be served from ‘hangouts.google.com’

Posted: 02 Sep 2015 01:24 PM PDT

Following the launch of the new standalone Google Hangouts homepage, Hangouts-related services and web traffic will be served from ‘hangouts.google.com’ in addition to existing host names.

This change is happening gradually over the coming weeks. There is no required action for Apps customers.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release for Hangouts-related services (G+, Gmail, etc) over the coming weeks

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users
 
Action:
FYI

New features, new look for the Google Admin mobile app

New features, new look for the Google Admin mobile app

Posted: 02 Sep 2015 02:30 PM PDT

The Google Admin mobile app allows Apps super admins to easily manage users and groups, contact support, view audit logs and do other common administrative tasks all from their Android and iOS devices.

With today’s launch, we’re streamlining some of the most popular admin experiences, integrating admin actions with mobile communications and introducing a new look and feel.

The new features, launching today for both Android and iOS, include:

§ Richer user profiles with support for groups and several new attributes

§ Ability to perform bulk actions on users and groups

§ Ability to send text (SMS, WhatsApp, etc.) messages to users when adding them or resetting their password

The user experience has been redesigned using material design principles―aligning with the new look and feel announced for the Admin console on desktop earlier this year―providing a seamless experience across platforms and devices.

Check out the Help Center for more information on the new Google Admin app for Android and iOS.

Launch Details
Release track:  
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace: 
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only
 
Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

Options for creating custom distribution lists in Google

There are a couple of different ways that you can create distribution lists and custom contact groups through our Google accounts.

Option #1:  Google CLASSROOM  
Google Classroom is a new application that is designed for teachers to connect with students, but it also allows for members of any class, club, or peer group to connect with one another.

Here is a short video with an overview of Classroom:

And here is the most up-to-date resources for Classroom directly from Google:  https://support.google.com/edu/classroom/?hl=en#topic=6020277

Things to consider: 

• Classroom was designed specifically with teachers and students in mind, so it is conducive to our needs in school. 
• Beyond being a tool for contacting groups of people, Classroom is a great resource for backchanneling, assigning and collecting assignments, giving feedback to students, and more. 
• It is possible to email and send out other resources to all or selected members of a Google Class. 
• Multiple "teachers" can be added to a class so that the distribution list is accessible by more than just the creator of the class. 
• We highly recommend trying Classroom with your students. 

Option #2: Contact groups in GMAIL
A popular option for creating a distribution list is through Gmail. Here is the most up-to-date tutorial from Google about creating a contact group:  https://support.google.com/mail/answer/30970?hl=en

Also, here is a tutorial created by another GAFE school with step by step instructions for setting up a custom group:

Things to consider:

• The owner of the account is the only person with access to the group when it is created as a Gmail contact group. 
• We each need to set up our own groups and distribution lists when using contacts in Gmail. 

For further assistance with any of the applications mentioned above, please reach out to the resource specialist working with your school.

What can we do with our Google accounts?

What can we do with our Google accounts?

__________________________________________________________

There are lots of really great educational technology resources out there and many new ones developed every day! With so many choices, it can be difficult to know where to start or how to decide which ones are the best to use. Through the last 9 years of using Google products with my students, I have learned that for most things we want to do in school, Google has a perfect product for the task.

Google is just a really great match for education. As a company, Google keeps evolving and growing. And now -- more than ever -- Google is focused on developing products that meet the needs of students and teachers.   This two-minute video highlights some of the ways that the company and its products have changed over the years:

The sky really is the limit when we think of what our students can do with the tools that Google provides...and what they will be able to do in the future as new products are developed.

Here are just a few ideas to consider trying with your students and their WWPRSD Google Apps for Education accounts:

• design and use custom search engines and refined research strategies (Google Search)
• classify, curate, organize, and share collections of web sources (Bookmarks)
• create custom contact groups and distribution lists (Contacts or Groups)
• compose and store documents saved in the cloud (Docs)
• collaborate in real-time on documents (Docs), presentations (Slides), spreadsheets (Sheets) and more
• discuss and debate with other students across the school, district, state, and world (Hangouts)
• get organized and prioritize tasks (Google Calendar and Google Keep)
• create infographics and other design projects (Google Drawing)
• publish content for authentic audiences (Google Sites and Blogger)
• digital and custom mapping (Maps and Google Earth)
• and there's so much more!!!

One of the newest Google products is designed specifically with students and teachers in mind. Take a look at this short video about Google Classroom and see how it is the perfect online tool to connect with your students and to incorporate many of the other products mentioned in the list above:

Are you already using any of the resources mentioned on this list? Maybe some that weren't mentioned? Get the conversation started and leave a message in the comments section below.  You can also continue the conversation on Twitter with our district hashtag:  #WWPRSD.

And don't forget to reach out to the resource specialist in your building for resources, to talk about these ideas further, to set up share sessions, or to coordinate other professional development.