Deb Norton Tech

Google is Treating us with a Few Time-Saving Tricks  Here are a few updates from Google that can make your work more efficient and save you some time. #1 - New Shortcuts Google recently added shorter time-saving tricks to create docs, forms, sheets, sites and slides. Simply go to your URL (omni box) and type in one of these urls: Docs:  doc.new, docs.new, document.new Forms:  form.new, forms.new Sheets:  sheet.new, sheets.new, spreadsheet.new Sites:  site.new, sites.new, website.new Slides:  slides.new, deck.new, presentation.new #2 - Whose Viewing My Google Docs? The activity dashboard in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides is getting a new look (interface). If you haven't used the activity dashboard yet, it is a way to check to see who has viewed a file and when they viewed it. To view the activity dashboard, open a file and click on Tools and then on Activity Dashboard. The new look will make it easier to find data and to collabo...

The Ever Changing, Always Evolving GOOGLE! Gmail is getting a new look and some new features. Check it out here . I’m excited about smart reply, which I use all the time on the Gmail app on my phone.  Snoozing looks interesting, as well as nudging. There will also be new security and privacy features. Google Slides has some new updates . First, you will soon be able to copy and paste a Google slide from a Google presentation directly into a Google doc.  Also, you can add guide lines to your Google slides to help you align text and images on your slide. You can now add checkboxes to Google sheets. Click here to learn how. One of my colleagues has a fancy email signature, so I asked her to share the site she uses with me. And wa-la, I now have a very fancy email signature. ------------------------------------------------------ Curricular Connection Mercury Reader Sometimes you might want to clear away the clutter from a website to ...

Engage Students and Enhance Learning with Innovative Activities from Google Recently I presented a webinar on using some of Google's latest and greatest experiments and activities. I thought I would share this presentation through my blog incase anyone wants to explore some of these fabulous ideas. During the webinar, we explored a range of activities, including some that use your voice, actions, or drawings in games and storytelling. I also showed how teachers and students can learn about concepts such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and augmented reality in simple, creative ways. Use the activities in this slideshow to engage students and enhance learning with a variety of activities and experiments that can be used across curriculum. ENJOY!

Google Released a New Tool Called AutoDraw There is a new drawing tool from Google and it is really amazing!  Draw a sketch of something and AutoDraw will find possible images to turn your sketch into beautifully drawn images. AutoDraw uses artificial intelligence to recognize a drawing and then suggests professionally made images to replace your simple sketch. Like this! There are several tools to help make your drawing amazing such as the AutoDraw pencil, a regular pencil, a fill bucket, and a text tool.  Here is a short video explanation: AutoDraw works on Chromebooks, laptops, tablets and smart phones. To access AutoDraw just simply use the URL autodraw.com Here is a little information from the designers of AutoDraw: https://www.autodraw.com/artist Download or share your images with a link and use the side bar (3 lines) menu for additional option.   How might you use AutoDraw with your students or staff?...

This week we celebrate the national Hour of Code event. Watch this Chat with Deb to see two sites that will help students to become creators, inventors and coders. 3D Tin Made with Code Resources shared in this episode: 3DTin.com Make with Code from Google Click here to view all of the Chat with Deb episodes. Thank you to Intel's Teachers Engage Community for sponsoring this episode.

Google has had many updates lately, in case you haven't heard.  Let's take a look: #1 Add - ons!   Click here to see how to get new add-ons for Google Docs and Google Sheets.  I've been trying some of these add-ons out and they are a great way to super charge your creations.   Click here for a showcase of some of the add-ons. #2 New Pricing - Click here to read about Google's new lower price for online storage.  In a time where everything is becoming more expensive, Google is actually lowering their price for cloud storage. #3 Edit Images Right In Google Docs - Click here to see how images can now be edited right in Google Slides and Drawings. #4 Add Voice Comments to Google Docs - Click here  and here to read about adding voice comments into any Google Doc. There are many other updates as well.  To keep up with all that is new and improved, follow the Google Drive Blog .    

Pixlr Express is an app you can add to your Google Drive for photo editing.  It's a very impressive app.  Watch my video tutorial below to see more about Pixlr Express.  Pixlr has now been opened to students in our district.  :)

Did you know that Google+ is now opened up to our district?  We can now join Google + through our Google Suite.   Google+ is like Facebook, except that it allows a person to share information with certain groups, called circles.  When you post something to Google+, you can decide which circles will see your post.   I haven't used Google+ a whole lot yet, but I hope to become more familiar with it.  Google+ is very widely used with educators from around the world.   Recently I discovered an awesome feature of Google+ called Google Hangout.  Google Hangout is used to hold a video conference with up to 10 participants.  I participated in a Google Hangout with a group of educators to prepare for the SLATE Flipped Classroom Workshop.   This was a great experience that connected me with people I had never met before.  The video conference was easy to join and I like the format.  When a person is talking, they show up in ...

I just spent about an hour cleaning up my Google Docs.  Check it out! Before: After: No, I did not delete everything.  I just put everything into folders, or what Google Docs calls collections. How did I do it?  I came across this post on KB Konnected's great blog about Organizing Google Docs. I took a few minutes to watch the video: And then I got busy. I knew about creating collections in Google Docs, but I didn't know about the secret button to "Not Show in Home".  It took me a while, but I now have all of my Google Docs organized in collections and my home page is empty.   I love cleaning.  How about you?

Most people use Google or Wikipedia to search a topic.  Recently Google changed how its search engine works integrating Google + ahead of Facebook and Twitter.   Click here and here to read more about that. So, if you wanted to do a Google Search for, let's say, digital story telling, here is what it would look like: It doesn't look like much has changed to me.   Did you know there are many different search engines to use besides Google or Wikipedia?  Let me share a few that I found more appealing and kind of fun. #1 - RTBot  - I find the search results for RTBot to be visually appealing. Here is what a search for digital storytelling would look like on RTBot. I like the small picture and short description. #2 Oolone  - This search engine gives results in a unique way. This is what Oolone looks like.  The search has boxes in the shape of a figure eight. Here is what Oolone looks like when you do a search for digital stor...

A year ago, I shared how to create and use Google Forms.  Click here , and here to see the old posts. Today, I am sharing a site that offers Google Forms that have been created for you to copy and use with your students.  These come from Tom Barrett's Edtech blog.  Some forms may not be exactly what you want, but once you make a copy of the form, you can adjust the questions to suit your needs.  At the bottom of the blog is a Google Presentation on ways to use Google Forms in your classroom. Click here

I discovered something fun from Google called Google Shared Spaces .  There are some great spaces to embed or share with others.  Here is one I made called Yes/No/Maybe.  Go ahead and cast your vote. Embedded from Google Shared Spaces. Create your own space. There are several other options which would be fun for students to embed into their own blogs or share by email.  I recommend checking out Google Shared Spaces for your classroom.

I have been enjoying trying out some of Google's Gadgets that you can add to a Google Spreadsheet and then embed into a site.  I think these will be enjoyable for our students to create  Take a look at the samples and then watch the video to see how this is done! This gadget is called Flash Cards Gadget.  Use the blue buttons to practice the words.  This gadget is called Word Search Gadget.  Find the words and then click and drag over the letters to select the word. This gadget is called Advanced Word Cloud.  It is similar to a Wordle. This gadget is called Bars of Stuff.  It is used to show the numerical value of different items.  You can choose from several options of how to display the bars.  I chose rope for this one. This gadget is called Map.  It shows the location of data you enter into the spreadsheet.   And this gadget is called Word Study Gadget.  It is used to help students study vocabulary and...