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female working on math problem in notebook
Google Tips and TricksMath

Teaching Math with Google Workspace EDU

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

It was only a week ago that a teacher reached out to me about typing mathematical symbols. Lonnie, a math teacher, expressed the challenge:

I’ve avoided using Docs for a long time because it does not allow me to take a snapshot. As a math teacher, I often need to take a snapshot. It’s less tedious than trying to find all the mathematical symbols to type something out.  And another thing…I’m not sure why I would use Google Sites or YouTube.

In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few responses to these questions.

Mathematical Symbols

Solution #1: Lightshot

You can use several tools to take snapshots and then copy-and-paste or insert them into Google Docs. I rely on Lightshot, a Chrome extension and/or program you can load on your computer. It makes it easy to snap pictures of my screen and annotate them. You can see it reviewed in this video. It’s also mentioned in my TCEA Remote Learning support page for the video. Find it online.

math

Solution #2: Equatio

Equatio is a Chrome extension that takes the pain out of making equations or math expressions. You can dictate equations as well. Teachers can use Google Forms to create quizzes and students can add diagrams, sketches, and more to make their thinking visible.

Get Equatio in a free or premium version. Want to see more math tools? See this blog post.

Digital Whiteboards

Need a digital whiteboard? Most of us do when we’re trying to explain mathematical concepts. One way to do that is with a digital whiteboard that makes connecting with students easier.

Here are three digital whiteboard solutions you can take advantage of. The question is, which one does what you need?

Tool #1: Google Meet Plus

If you’re looking for the Swiss army knife of Chrome extensions for Google Meet, then this is it. Google Meet Plus has a built-in whiteboard that offers a few extra features that come in handy during a Google Meet. One of them is showing you a running record of who added what to the whiteboard.

math

Google Meet Plus makes it simple for participants to do the following:

  • Share and collaborate on a whiteboard in the meeting
  • See the drawing in real-time

Get simple and powerful tools in a Google Meet session with Google Meet Plus.

Tool #2: JamBoard

Jamboard is a great whiteboard solution, and it’s collaborative. Since it’s a G Suite solution, which means you can use it with your students. But you will still need math tools for typing. “You can also write on it with your mouse/touchpad,” says Shari Hiltbrand. She goes on to say:

Access it by going to your 9 dots/waffle. That is at the top right of your Gmail or Drive page. Scroll through the apps and you’ll find JamBoard.

You may find Sarah Kiefer’s Wakelet Collection about JamBoard worth exploring:

If in Google Classroom, you can assign a JamBoard to each student. You can use a laser pointer, and create an unlimited series of blank pages (whiteboard screens) that can be saved. You can also embed GIFs in JamBoard (video). Unlike Google Meet Plus’ whiteboard, there is no revision history. Here’s how one teacher reported using it in her classroom with two remote learning students:

Eric Curts (Control Alt Achieve Blog) has put together an amazing video on using JamBoard and Google Meets:

Tool #3: Whiteboard.fi

mathAnother nifty solution is Whiteboard.fi. From their website:

Whiteboard.fi is a simple tool that you can put into instant use. Create a class and invite your students. When they join, all will get a digital whiteboard.

As their teacher, you see all your students’ whiteboards in real time, so you can follow their progress. The students only see their own whiteboard and the teacher’s.

Imagine your students creating a concept map while you are sharing a new idea or concept. Whiteboard.fi makes it easy for students to make their thinking visible while you provide live feedback.

Virtual Online Space

One of the tough problems we encounter in teaching math is finding ONE place to put everything we want to share with students. A great tool for that is Google Sites. I put all my stuff that I share with others in Google Sites like a simple bulletin board. Here’s an example or two you may find of interest:

As wonderful as Google Docs is, having a space you can refer to online like Google Sites can be a lifesaver.

Did You Know?

Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.

Sharing Video Playlists

One of the reasons you would use YouTube is to share playlists of educational videos with students (or colleagues/parents). For example, you could make a playlist of supplemental videos for a particular math lesson. Watchinga  video can assist learners in visualizing concepts from a different perspective.

For example, check out this YouTube playlist Algebra Made Simple. Imagine using it to reinforce algebraic concepts covered in class today.

Equations, Whiteboards, and More

When you consider how many tools are available, it can be overwhelming. That’s why I like to have two or three to refer to when working. I hope this blog entry has provided you with a few ideas you can build on. If not, here are some more ways to Empower Your Math Lessons with G Suite for Education.

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Google Classroom
Google Tips and Tricks

Five Amazing Add-Ons for Google Classroom

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

Google Classroom is your command-and-control center for your digital classroom. As incredible as it is, you can make it an even better companion. How? Just try out the add-ons in this blog post.

These Chrome extensions and add-ons expand your ability to do work. Instead of adding them all at once, add them one at a time. This will give you the time you need to learn how to best use each one.

Add-On #1: Share to Classroom

Need to get everyone on the same page? Use this add-on to push web pages to any of your Google Classrooms. This makes it easy for you to share content (e.g. announcements, assignments, web pages) with them. Students can also use this add-on to share websites back to their teachers.

Get Share To Classroom

Add-On #2: Classwork Zoom

Wish you had an easy way to see what’s going on in your Google Classroom? Classwork Zoom (unrelated tothe  Zoom.us web conferencing tool) translates Classroom activities into a timeline of information.

google classroom

Classwork Zoom relies on information found in your Classroom, such as:

  • Assigned student work in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings
  • Assignment deadlines from the class calendar

Watch this short video overview:

Note: Classwork Zoom currently offers free access to G Suite schools that are closed due to the coronavirus.

Get Classwork Zoom

Add-On #3: Kami Extension – PDF and Document Annotation

Last week, a colleague remarked she had never heard of Kami for PDF and Document Annotation. After trying it out, she couldn’t help but be impressed. Kami makes it a simple matter to annotate documents by writing, drawing, and typing on them.

Some of Kami’s features include:

  • Providing students with documents that they can complete
  • Simplifying the return of completed documents for grading
  • Using Kami as a digital whiteboard overlay for an on-screen document
  • Sharing documents for collaborative annotation or discussion with others
  • Engaging in paperless pedagogy (Sorry, Alice Keeler, I couldn’t resist)

Boasting many more features, here’s a quick video overview:

Get Kami

Add-On #4: Xodo – PDF Viewer and Editor

One of my favorite PDF viewers and editors, Xodo is the everyman’s PDF tool. You can use it in your browser, making it ideal for Chromebooks. It works on Android devices as well. It makes it easy to read, merge, annotate, sign, and share PDFs. Xodo has served me well, allowing me to sign forms on the go. In the Google Classroom, it saves you time as you can edit PDFs on your computer and then save to Google Drive (or Dropbox). Use the Chrome extension or visit their website.

google classroom

Get Xodo

Add-On #5: Dualless

“I really miss my dual monitor setup in my classroom,” said a colleague. Wish you had an easy way to split your screen? Put Google Classroom on one side, other work on the other. Give the Dualless Chrome extension a try. This add-on divides your browser window into two. You decide the ratio of how much space each window will take.

google classroom

Get Dualless

But, Wait, There’s More to Add to Google Classroom!

Are you a super admin who needs to manage all the Google Classroom courses in your domain? Or a classroom teacher who wants to manage your own classes? Give this G Suite Marketplace add-on, Classroom Manager, a try (watch video). You can add it to Google Sheets and it will make it easy to do the following:

  • An admin user can use the assignments menu to get an overview of the work being set by all teachers in the domain.
  • Drill down to view:
    • Number of assignments with details such as when an assignment was set, when it is due, who set it, title, and description
    • Announcements made for each class
    • How many students, and what teachers, are associated with a course
  • Edit various details of domain courses via the spreadsheet with the add-on enabled, such as:
    • The course status and name
    • Section and description
    • Room
    • Course owner
  • Add and delete teachers and students
  • Schedule jobs to sync data about teachers and students of classes with data from your School information system

Unlike other solutions, there is a cost for Classroom Manager (annual fee of $99 for a super admin or $10 for annual teacher license). If you get the super admin license, you do not need to purchase individual teacher licenses. Schools can take advantage of a similar tool known as Little SIS for Classroom. Available from Amplified IT, it is free to schools until July 1, 2020 due to COVID-19.

One final point to keep in mind. There are many apps that work with Google Classroom. You can even take our self-paced course, Google Classroom, if you want to earn your digital badge and certification.

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Google browser open on laptop/chromebook with person sitting in front of it
Google Tips and Tricks

Google Meet Add-Ons and Updates

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

If you’ve adopted Google Meet as your standard web conferencing tool, you may have encountered a few challenges. In this blog entry, we’ll explore a few Google Chrome extensions that can improve your Meet experience.

Did You Know?

Sign up for one of our Google Certified Educator certifications. You’ll learn about more than Google Meet, as well as earn 12 CPE hours per course. Use these courses to get Google Educator certified. Find out more online.

Adding Chrome Extensions

To add Chrome extensions, first open up your Chrome browser. Then click on the links shared below. These links will take you to Google’s App store where you can add the Chrome extension to your browser. All these extensions will work on any Chrome/Chromium-based browser.

google meet

Photo Credit: PC World, Brave 1.0 Review

Some of those browsers you may be familiar with:

  • Google Chrome: Google’s flagship browser
  • Chromium. A browser available for GNU/Linux operating systems.
  • Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based). Microsoft’s adaptation of the Chromium browser
  • Brave (Chromium-based). A privacy-friendly browser that works great and fast. A nice alternative is Vivaldi.
  • Mozilla Firefox (Chromium-based)

Here are the links to the browser of your choice. My preference? Brave or Vivaldi. Both offer additional security and cross-device sharing of web pages. If you are on a managed device (e.g. Chromebook), then you are stuck with Google Chrome. No matter what your browser, here are some ways to enhance Google Meets.

Google Meet Chrome Extensions

Now that you’ve installed your favorite browser, it’s time to try out Google Chrome extensions. Several districts have chosen to push these out to all managed devices. In doing so, they enhance the Google Meet experience.

Here are the extensions you can add now:

  • Google Meet Enhancement Suite – This is a Chrome extension that adds more to the Meet experience. The main features include:
    • Grid Layout: see everyone in your Google Meet in one view, highlight speakers, and set it as your default layout
    • Push to Talk: quickly mute and unmute yourself with the press of a key
    • Auto Join: skip the join screen and get straight to the meeting
    • Smart Defaults: automatically turn on captions, mute your mic, or turn your video off

See some of the enhancement kit option in the image shown right.

A few more must-have add-ons for Google Meet:

  • Google Meet Plus – An amazing tool that is a must-have for any teacher. You can drop links, famous quotes, use a whiteboard that tracks who did what.
  • Nod – Quick emoji reactions for muted team members. Nod allows team members to send real-time reactions to presenters and speakers during meetings on Google Meet. You can change Meet to show your full name as well as first name when sending reactions
  • Google Meet Push to Talk – Hold the space bar in Google Meet to talk instead of fumbling around trying to mute and unmute.
  • Google Meet Grid View – Show Meet attendees in a grid view
  • Grid View for Hangouts & Meets – From their website, “See everyone in your Google Meet or Google Hangouts Call at once – it’s the grid view/Brady bunch view you’ve been asking for! This extension enables the grid view/Brady bunch functionality for both Hangouts and Meet with a single extension for convenience.”
  • Meet Attendance – Collect attendance in a Google Sheet from a Google Meet automatically
  • Virtual Backgrounds for Google Meet –  Check out this Chrome extension that provides you with virtual backgrounds for Google Meet.

 New Features Announced

April, 2020 has seen the announcement of many new Meet features. For example, Google expanded access to Premium Meet features at no cost. G Suite EDU users have access until September 30, 2020. G Suite EDU administrators need to turn on Meet for their domain (Watch Video), as shown below:

tcea responds

Photo Credit: Via Email from Georgina Dean, 04/27/2020

This means you can have meetings for up to 250 participants per call. You can have live streams for up to 100,000 viewers within your domain. Last, you can record meetings and save them to Google Drive.

google meet

Some other big announcements include the following:

  • G Suite EDU administrators may give meeting creation privileges to individuals, groups, or organizational units (OUs).
  • Google Classroom and Meet integration
  • Participants to a Meet must now request and be given approval to join a meeting
  • Meeting control feature that prevents participants from rejoining. For nicknamed meetings, this prevents students from rejoining after the last participant (usually the instructor) has left. Once the teacher restarts the nicknamed meeting, students can join again.
  • Meeting creators and calendar owners can mute or remove other participants.
  • Meeting creators and calendar owners can allow others from outside the district to join.
  • Numerous security protocols have been put in place.

Other Meet experience enhancements include:

  • Tiled layout for larger calls: See up to sixteen participants at once, up from four.
  • Present higher-quality video content with audio: Need to share a Chrome tab with audio/video? Share one tab functionality available. You can continue to share your screen.
  • Low-light mode: Google Meet optimizes your video to make you more visible in less than optimal lighting.
  • Noise cancellation: Meet will filter out background distractions.

Want to explore Google Meet in more detail? A learning opportunity known as Teach From Home is now available from Google. There are many topics you can review. Most include an illustrated tutorial and/or video.

Tips for Google Meet Teachers

Are you a teacher relying on this tool? Here are a few more tips for ensuring you have control of a Google Meet:

  • Turn on Meet only when you are ready to enter and be the first person in Google Meet. This is important because it gives you ownership of the Meet
  • Assign a nickname to your Meet. When you open the Meet via Calendar, it provides you with the option to create a nickname or identification code. That code is then associated to the web address or uniform resource locator (URL) that is created.
  • Switch off the Admin Console option that grants students the power to start a Meet
  • Make sure you are the last one to leave the classroom. If you must, expedite the exit of any students lingering behind.

Some teachers like using breakout rooms. Zoom and Microsoft Teams have them, but Google Meet, as of April 2020, does not. What do you do if you want breakout rooms? You get creative like Clay.  Follow Clay’s tutorial to add this feature.

Recording a Virtual Meeting

First person in and last person out of a Meet? You will find a recording of a the meeting in your Google Drive. But there are other recording options you can take advantage of. (Please remember the law and ethics when recording these meetings.) Several tools can assist you in this. For example, use OBS Project (or one of many tools) to record a Google Meet. You can get a transcription of everything spoken in Google Meet.

Use Fireflies.ai (get Chrome extension). It has these features:

  • Adds a button to Google Calendar & Google Meet and enables you to easily transcribe calls.
  • Record your meetings, transcribe, search, and share with one simple click
  • Fireflies Chrome extension adds a button on your Google Calendar so you can invite the AI assistant Fred to your scheduled meetings.

As the web conferencing tools get easier to use, you can focus your attention where it matters most, your learners.

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Google Tips and Tricks

Our 2019 Google Resource Roundup

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

It’s that time of year again. Every year, I gather together all the fabulous Google resources from our blog. This year, we have had so many amazing posts on topics ranging from Google Earth to implementing high-quality instructional strategies using Google tools.  Check out this incredible list of Google blog posts from this past year categorized by topic/tool.

Canvas

Calendar

Chrome

Chromebook App Hub

Chrome Extensions

Classroom

Docs

Earth

Gmail

Instructional Strategies

Library

Sheets

Slides

Various Google Topics and Tools

In addition, don’t forget to check out the 2016 Google Resource Roundup, 2017 Google Resource Roundup, and the 2018 Google Resource Roundup for even more phenomenal Google blog posts. As we move into 2020, stay tuned to more fabulous posts by joining our email list to ensure the latest content gets delivered right to your inbox and you never miss any of these wonderful resources.

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Google Tips and TricksWeb 2.0 Tool

Holiday Websites, Apps, and Extensions

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

The holidays are upon us and there are so many fun and interactive websites, apps, and extensions that you and your students can take advantage of. Explore the collection below for ideas and activities that can be used in the classroom.

Websites

Christmas Celebrations Around the World
With the world becoming a global village, Christmas is now celebrated in many countries around the world. On this website, simply click on the country’s flag in order to get a glimpse of the different ways Christmas is celebrated in that country. In the classroom, students can learn about other cultures and different Christmas traditions. It is important to realize that being culturally aware is a wonderful way to promote inclusion for all in your classroom. 

Northpole
The Northpole website has a lot of great activities for students. Students can write letters to Santa and read and listen to stories. In addition, they can personalize three different stories, each with themselves as the star of the story. Most noteworthy is the Elf Pal Academy, which is included on the site. It will connect you to even more activities geared for elementary students and English language learners.

Storynory
At the Storynory website, students can listen to free audio stories. The stories can be streamed live or downloaded to be played anywhere.  In the classroom, you could create a listening center for your students. Furthermore, you can use the story starters as creative writing prompts.

Twelve Days of Christmas
The Twelve Days of Christmas is a simple way to introduce basic economics to classrooms. The price index gives the cost of each gift from “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. It’s a fun way to measure consumer spending and trends in the economy. Furthermore,  you can take advantage of the activity book on the site.

Chrome Apps and Extensions

Christmas Coloring Game
With this Chrome app, just select your picture and your color to create your holiday work of art. It is good for some quick festive fun. Moreover, this app offers pictures for other holidays or just everyday objects.

Christmas Day Countdown and Radio
This extension allows you to count down to Christmas while you listen to festive music. There is a variety of music to choose from, with holiday mixes from around the world. Consequently, it will bring some cheerfulness to your everyday Chrome experience.

Spread some holiday cheer into your classroom by utilizing some of the above resources. As a result, this December will be festive as well as productive.

Additional Resources

More From TechNotes

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infographics
ChromebooksGoogle Tips and TricksProfessional Learning

Infographics Made Simple

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

In my Infographics Made Simple workshop session at the 2018 TCEA Chromebook Academy, I shared some of the infographic templates I had made. Since I first wrote the blog entries, Infographic-Creation Strategies for the Art-Challenged and Infographic Templates with Google Slides, I’ve learned a few more tricks. These  tips come in the form of Chrome extensions or add-ons. Microsoft user looking for Powerpoint templates for infographics? Here are over 15 templates to get you started. May I share some of my tips with you?

Tip #1 – Citing Images on the Web

“Any librarians in the room?” I always ask that question when facilitating a workshop. It is a tell-tale sign that the tip I’m about to share involves potential copyright violations. Potential since classroom fair use use is okay, sharing online…not so much. When you do a Google search for images to include in your infographics, seek out creative commons copyright images. Many often don’t know that in a Google Image Search, you can find the ones labelled “Reuse with modification.”

For example, here are standard Google Image search results for the word, “excellence:”

infographics

Those results look pretty good. Here’s what the search results are when you modify your search. To do that, select Tools, then Usage Rights, then “Labelled for Reuse.” The changes to your search look like this:

When the usage rights are modified, your image results are different, as shown below.

Try Google Advanced Image Search: It gives you enormous flexibility in tailoring your search results. In addition to specifying the image’s color, size, and file type, you can choose Filter Explicit Results to block inappropriate pictures. Specify the usage rights to include various levels of reprint permissions.

You may have to go through several pages of images (try these image sites first) before finding the right one. You can rely on tools like Cite This For Me, Apogee, MyBib, and EasyBib to get the citation for the image in MLA/APA format. Here’s what Cite This For Me looks like in action with an image that captures “Excellence.” Note the citation Cite This For Me provides appears below the image.

Free Image on Pixabay – Directory, Excellent, Mediocre Free Image on Pixabay – Directory, Excellent, Mediocre. (2018). Pixabay.com. Retrieved 27 July 2018, from https://pixabay.com/en/directory-excellent-mediocre-1274229/

While you won’t always need to include citations for images in your infographic, it never hurts to keep track of where you picked up your graphics in case others ask.

Want to learn more about this?

Read Helping Students Find and Cite Photos blog entry. Teaching students to correctly cite resources they use in their reports can be a difficult task. But this website can make it much, much easier, both for the students and for their teachers.

Meet Kathy Miller (@millerk813), a leading learner at the 2018 TCEA Chromebook Academy | Get a copy of her infographic

Tip #2: Finding Icons for Use

“Have you seen the Insert Icons into Slides add-on?” asked Kathy Miller (@millerk813) in my Infographics Made Simple session. Of course, we had not. “There is another add on for Docs and Slides called Unsplashed Photos. It has free-to-use HD pics; makes every copyright librarian happy!” Kathy shared. She followed up with sharing the Icons by Noun project.

In the workshop, we all grabbed the Insert Icons into Slides add-on, setting it up in Google Slides. With this add-on in place, you can browse 1,800+ free icons from Font Awesome & Google Material Design. What’s even neater, you can do it without leaving Google Slides. Pick any color you want, and the icons get inserted into your slide. Even more exciting, the icons get imported with a transparent background. Ms. White, one of the other session participants, shows off her incomplete infographic creation. You can see the open Insert icons add-on as a sidebar:

Icons by Noun, another source of icons, works in Google Docs. While Google Docs isn’t my preferred infographic tool (Google Drawings and Google Slides are my favorites), you can grab icons in Docs and then copy and paste them.

What’s amazing about events like the 2018 TCEA Chromebook Academy? I learn as much as I share.

Tip #3: Color Palettes Made Simple

Palette add-on

Not sure how to match colors? David McGeary suggests the following:

“I recommend doing an image search by color and usage rights. I also used https://coolors.co/ to get a working color palette for this project. It is one of my favorite tools for design work.”

Another participant in my Infographics Made Simple session suggested the Chrome add-on Palette. If you are not sure how colors should look together, it may do the job. It allows you to “create your own color palette by manipulating the variation and hue colors.”

Start Making

A hushed silence falls over a room when creative professionals start making.  In my session, participants got to work quickly. Some, though, found themselves enjoying all the Chrome extensions and add-ons that make infographic creation fun. One of them loved my share of Fireshot, an image capture tool that works in Chrome (also try Full Page Screen Capture). Another liked the mention of Windows tools like  PicPick and the venerable Snipping Tool.

Curious about what session participants came up with? See their incomplete creations linked below.

Alison

Kim

Marcie

You can see more pictures of infographic makers. Check out creations from others in the session, including Korie’s “The Qualities of a Great Student” as well other infographic templates at Infographics Made Simple website.

Note to K-12 Students:

If you are a student using G Suite for Education, you may be unable to access the Google version of these infographics. That’s because your school district has NOT allowed you to access resources outside of your school district domain. Get a teacher to access the resources here, then share them with you using your school district domain. OR, use a personal Gmail account.

 

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bookmarks
Google Tips and TricksTechnical Support

Bookmark Organization the Easy Way

by Miguel Guhlin
written by Miguel Guhlin

There are many amazing tools available for organizing your Chrome browser bookmarks. Whether it’s a social bookmark tool (e.g. Diigo) or just built-in browser management, the tools make it simple. Yet it’s the simple tools that many of us overlook. Tired of wading through a pile of bookmarks, I recently decided to look around for a better solution and found a Chrome add-on that you may also want to use.

Really? Bookmarks?

“Bookmark organization…that’s so early 21st century,” you might be saying. Why get excited about bookmark management? But if you’re like a lot of folks, myself included, you may want something simple. If you have to manage bookmarks on your Chromebook by sorting through tons of bookmarks to find what you need, you will love this Chrome extension.

I had been using social bookmarking tools like Diigo because it makes sharing bookmarks with others, well, social. You can get an RSS feed for a collection of bookmarks that’s based around a tag. You can use Diigo to annotate a web page. Diigo offers educators free or reduced cost options. The problem is, it’s too much trouble. I just don’t want to mess with bookmark tools and add-ons. There are other options, though.

Google Chrome’s Bookmark Manager

Google Chrome comes with a built-in bookmark manager that is pretty powerful.

bookmark menu

You can create folders for your bookmarks to organize them. These folders, when placed in your bookmarks bar, allow you to group your bookmarks. In the screenshot below, you can see three folders, including Work, Tools, and Microsoft.

In the picture below, you can see that clicking on any one of the folders will reveal the bookmarks. I’ve clicked the Tools folder to show a list of bookmarks.

You can use this built-in bookmark manager without any additional extensions. Open it with a keyboard shortcut on Windows (Ctrl-Shift-O). You can enhance the built-in manager with a Chrome extension.

Did You Know?

You can easily transfer your bookmarks between computers or devices. Turn on Sync in your Chrome browser settings. Your extensions, like the one mentioned below, and your bookmarks will get copied to other computers you are signed in to. You can also export your bookmarks as an HTML file and then import it using the Chrome Bookmark Manager.

Open Bookmark Manager

The Open Bookmark Manager makes getting to the built-in bookmark manager in Chrome easier by adding a quick button. This is faster than clicking on Settings, Bookmarks, and then Bookmark Manager. The button appears in the extension panel (top right corner of your browser). You will see a white star on a blue background.Additional features include setting up keyboard shortcuts to jump straight to your bookmark folder of choice.

Keep It Simple

In a world full of complex, new tools, an old maxim rules supreme: keep it simple.  Open Bookmark Manager makes getting to Google’s Bookmarks Manager easy and simple. That makes it worth adding to your favorites, right? (pun intended)

 

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Google Slide presentation remote
Google Tips and Tricks

Use Your Phone as a Google Slide Presentation Remote

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

At the recent Elementary Technology Conference, I was able to use my phone as a remote to control my Google Slide presentations. Thanks to the Remote for Slides Chrome extension, I wasn’t tethered to my laptop. I was able to walk around the room with my phone and advance my slides as I presented. When presenting, why be stuck in the front of a room when you don’t have to be?

Features of the Remote to Slides Extension

The free Remote for Slides extension (@remoteforslides) was created by Henry Lim, a Google Developer Expert in Web Technologies. Some of the features on the extension include:phone

  • Move Slides Forwards or Backwards: You can move your slides forward or backward by tapping a button.
  • Timer: A timer allows you to look at the time for which you have been speaking for. This is critical since you don’t want your presentation to go over its scheduled time.
  • Speaker Notes: Speaker notes allow you to refer to your notes during your presentation. This really helps you remember that important information you are trying to convey to your participants.

Installing the Remote for Slides Extension

To install the extension:

  1. Launch the Chrome browser and go to the Remote for Slides Chrome extension.
  2. Click the Add to Chrome button.
  3. Click Add extension in the confirmation box.
  4. The button changes to Checking. Then it changes to Added to Chrome when the installation is complete.

Using Remote for Slides

To begin controlling your presentations from your phone:

  1. Open your presentation in Google Slides.
  2. On the top right, click the “Present with Remote” button.
  3. Wait until the presentation is fully loaded.
  4. Click on the “Show ID & Start Remote” button to view the 6-digit code.
  5. Open http://s.limhenry.xyz on your phone and enter the code that appears on the page.
  6. Press the Connect button and you are ready to go! Your phone is now a remote, with two large buttons to move back and forth between slides.

phone

Try It on Your Phone

The next time you have a presentation, try using your phone as the remote. It works like a charm. Also, don’t forget to check out Fabulous Presentations with Google Slides to learn how to create more moving and engaging presentations.

 

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Google Tips and Tricks

The Power of Add-Ons: Save as Doc

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Eliminating the number of decisions you have to make increases your energy level, asserts the author of The Power of Engagement. You can accomplish this in a easy way with a Google Sheets add-on. Consider this scenario. You setup a Google Form and send it out to everyone you  know. When you are looking at the responses, you realize, “Wow, I don’t want to reformat this Sheet of Form Responses for readability.” You want to avoid countless energy-sapping decisions as you try to wrap content in Sheet cells, move data around, read tiny text on a crowded screen. A wonderful Google Sheets add-on makes it easy to read through the responses submitted via a Google Form and saved in a Google Sheet.

The Power of Less Decisions

We all know that reading long paragraph field entries is a nightmare in a spreadsheet. But, good news! The add-on Save as Doc is the cherry on top when it comes to finding a solution for your Google Forms content.

power

Save as Google Doc Core Features

  • Choose any name for the generated document.
  • Select any number of adjacent cells to output.
  • Choose any heading style for column headings.
  • Add a pagebreak after each row of data.
  • Save the current settings as the default.
  • Generates a Google Document in your Google Drive.

How to Use This Google Add-on

  1. Download the add-on.
  2. Within Google Sheets, click on Add-ons.
  3. Choose “Save As Doc > Start.”
  4. Select the cells, rows, or columns to include or choose “Select all data.”
  5. Type a Save Doc File name.
  6. Modify the output settings in the sidebar.
  7. Choose “Save as Doc.”
  8. At the bottom, click on the blue Open the Doc.

The Google Three-Step

You’ve heard of the Texas two-step? Now you have the Google three-step:

  1. Use Google Forms to enter the information.
  2. The responses are compiled in Google Sheets.
  3. Use the Save as doc add-on to turn your information back into a Google Doc.

Watch this video walk through by Free Tech4Teachers blogger Richard Byrne:

More Favorites Coming Soon

Want to power through more tough tasks in Docs, Sheets, and Form with add-ons? I’ll be sharing some more of my favorites in upcoming blogs. And, if you’re a TCEA member, check out our list of recommended Chrome apps and extensions. They’re divided by category and then subject, making them easy to search through to find exactly what you need.

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Special Needs

Give Struggling Readers a Better Way to Read

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

As the school year begins, you might discover that you have students who struggle to read. The fact of the matter is that many of our students find reading challenging. The good news is that reading intervention resources, such as BeeLine Reader, are available to help.

About BeeLine Reader

BeeLine Reader is a Chrome extension that changes the color of regular text from black to a color gradient. It allows students to transition between lines quickly and effortlessly by easily moving from one colored line to the next, differently colored line. The colors keep readers on track from line to line and are especially helpful when reading on a mobile device such as a phone or tablet. Readers are less likely to lose their place, since alternating lines are colored differently.

Nick Lum, CEO, BeeLine Reader

Nick Lum, CEO, BeeLine Reader

In addition to color-coding lines of text for easier reading, the extension will also make text clearer. An obstacle struggling readers have is sorting the “extra stuff” from the actual content. BeeLine Reader strips a website article of the fluff and leaves just the text. The extension also includes a setting option for an Open Dyslexic Font, allowing students with dyslexia to read in an adjusted font.

While at the ISTE 2016 Conference in Denver, Colorado this past June, I was so excited to meet the creator of BeeLine Reader, Nick Lum. I had no idea who he was and that he was the one who created BeeLine Reader. As he started explaining BeeLine Reader to me, I told him I already knew about it and showcase it in many of my workshops. He was thrilled to hear that!

How It Works

BeeLine Reader - How It Works

BeeLine Reader can easily be added to any Chrome browser. Once added, teachers can prompt students to click the BeeLine icon on their Chrome web browser and choose their color scheme before reading long passages of text online.

Teachers should encourage students to use reading-comprehension strategies while using BeeLine Reader, such as making note of keywords, important characters, or making connections to important details. Students should also get in the habit of summarizing each passage they read to ensure they are understating.

BeeLine is also available as an app for iPhone and iPad. However, to get the best user experience, use the Chrome browser version. There is also a PDF converter that allows you to convert textbooks in PDF form to the BeeLine Reader format. You can read as much as you want with BeeLine for 30 days. After that, you can use BeeLine up to five times every day for free. If you would like to use it more than that, then you can subscribe to BeeLine Reader Pro for just $10 a year. Additional educational pricing is available on the BeeLine Reader website.

 

Try It

The potential to increase reading speed and proficiency when using this extension, especially for struggling readers, makes it worth the try. To use it:

  1. Add the BeeLine Reader extension to your Chrome browser.
  2. Go to DOGO news and select an article to read. If you aren’t familiar with DOGO news, it is a site that has fun articles for kids on current events, science, sports, and more.
  3. Click on the BeeLine Reader extension icon located in the upper right side of your Chrome browser.
  4. Watch what happens! Feel free to adjust some of settings for better reading.

Conclusion

According to Nick’s research, more than 90 percent of users report an increase in ease of reading when using the tool’s color-gradient feature. Give it a try and judge for yourself. This is a tool that will be a huge help to some students, and it’s worth a shot for helping build reluctant readers’ fluency.

In addition, don’t forget about the TCEA Recommended Chrome App and Extension List if you are looking for more Chrome resources to improve your student’s literacy skills. If you use the BeeLine Reader extension, we would love to hear from you.

 

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