Tammy Worcester is a national speaker with a wealth of information... This session is about the free tools available in Google.
http://googletools.tammyworcester.com Online handout for presentation...www.google.com - Put these on your 'to do' list-- set up some Google preferences...
- iGoogle- look for the igoogle link on top right of Google to set yours up. Select theme- the city theme will change depending on time of day, there are others that change depending on weather. Add tabs on left. Widgets/Gadgets. iGoogle- you set up your page to look th The top right will say "add stuff"- click to add things.
- www.blogger.com - Create new Blog- Easy! Free! FAST! How could you use blogs in your classroom? You can also post to your blog in iGoogle- you don't have to go to your blog page at all. You can also post to your blog from email- custom options> settings> email. Can publish immediately or save as a draft to post later. Send email to the address you set up - students could publish to blogs that way too. Great way to do journal writing, book reviews, etc... See web site "8 ways to post to blogger"- http://twblogger.blogspot.com Use an embed code for your blog-- load a video, etc. You can add power points, polls (poll daddy), slide shows of photos, etc etc
- Google Docs http://docs.google.com Add a new document like a word processing document. You add comments online, students collaborate- great for group work, teacher committees, etc. (in SHARE area, you can select POST TO BLOG; you can also set up groups who can see your docs...)
- Google Presentation- like Power Point - in Google Docs- Also has spreadsheet and FORM. When you set up the spreadsheet you can select "share without login" feature- so kids could go in and all enter data into a spreadsheet. URL will be long-- Use "Tiny URL" to make URL shorter- post to your class web site. FORMS- feed results into a spreadsheet for you-- Click "Show Analysis" to see spreadsheet and results... Click EMBED to generate code to embed into blog.
- Google Notebook- In old days you had index cards w/ info for research papers... can setup notebooks for yourself- "to-do" lists, You can publish any of your items as its own web page which can be published- use tiny url to shorten url. Can add a widget to open your notebook from any web page- to take notes for projects, etc - copy text from sites, open notebook, click "clip" button-- it adds text AND sites the source! Add "comments" under the text you paste.
- Google Maps- you can do collaborative google maps... "my Maps" - can create own custom maps. Distance measurement tools- can measure distance from and to anywhere.
- Student Logins- 4 ideas for student logins: Single generic student login, no individual accountability but you could also purchase a domain name for about 10.00 per year- see instructions on her site, or have tech person set up logins at school for each student, or students use own accounts.