Thursday, November 6, 2008

Google Tools Tammy Worcester

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.