Google sites alternative use cases revolve almost completely around student creativity. There aren’t many ways to use it in a way that is different from its natural order, but the fact that most aren’t using it in that creative way means you could see them as alternatives.
The key with sites is that it’s all in Drive. It allows sharing and collaboration to be done easily, and it makes it easy for any student to start a site. It also means you don’t necessarily have to even publish them. You could just shrew them through the Drive sharing function. Sites are also incredibly easy to use. Students just need to drag and drop content into it, and it is easy to add some of the other Google tools like docs, sheets, slides, and forms. Some ideas for Sites:
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Continuing with our alternative uses for Google series, let’s spend today's blog post on Google Drawings. This again is one where you are better off in the hands of an expert, and that expert goes by the name of Eric Curts.
Eric’s Control Alt Achieve site is a great resource for every Google tool, and it’s completely free. I especially love it for Drawing because it has some amazing ideas and templates including magnetic poetry, clocks, and more. You can access Eric’s specific Drawing page by clicking HERE. Google Forms seems like a pretty straightforward tool, right? Well, it actually has some deep features that would allow you to use it in some very different ways. You can do some amazing things like personalized journeys, never fail quizzes, and breakout edu games.
The design of forms makes it one of the easiest ways to create a student journey. It’s so easy to add content that you can create them quickly, and you can easily pass them on to students through Google’s ease of sharing. We won’t cover surveys and quizzes, but lets cover some amazing opportunities for kids!
I was lucky enough to recently get a 2021 M1 MacBook Pro, and I thought the blog would be a great place to give you some first impressions of the device. I got the base model which has a 14 inch screen, 16 GB of Memory, and 512 GB of storage, and for context I am coming from a 2018 MacBook Pro with touch-bar that was upgraded to 16GB of memory, has a 13 inch screen, and 256 GB of Storage.
The first thing you notice is the differences in look and feel, and I did not think it would start with the screen but it does. The screen size is really only a little over an inch difference from my 2018 MacBook Pro, but it feels like a ton. This laptop actually feels closer to the 16 inch in my hands then my previous 13 inch which is wild. I think part of that is the extra inch, but it’s also the reduced bezels. It really stands out in Chrome where you don’t have to scroll as far. That look and feel also applies to the other pieces of the device. I was one who never really had issues with the previous generation of MacBook Pro's keyboard, but after typing on the 2021 for a bit, I can generally say I see the difference. The keys travel further like a general keyboard should, and the clacking that comes with the previous version is reduced. The black matte finish also hides dirt and grime just a bit better, and it feels cleaner. While I have not gone out to present yet to take advantage of the ports, I am just thrilled that they are back. You only lost 1 USB-C port from the previous generation, but you gained an HDMI port, SD card slot, and MagSafe power adapter. I can’t even express how happy I am to have MagSafe back, and plugging directly into a projector at a conference using the HDMI port rather than a dongle will cut back a host of issues for me. The best part about this device though in comparison to my old computer is the M1-Pro chip. It makes the computer incredibly fast, and the efficiency it provides makes the battery life unbelievable. My previous Macbook at best had 2 and ½ hours of time when I quit using it (this was after 3 and ½ years.) I have used the new one off and on all weekend and it only lowered to a 48% charge. I can’t even express how surprised I am at this. Not only does the chip improve performance, it also lets me add iPad and iPhone apps to my device. This is such a life saver because now I don’t have to depend on a corded iOS device to demo iOs apps. It actually makes my iPad somewhat absolute with the main reason to keep it so that I have a second screen when presenting remotely. The only challenge is figuring out how to scroll in some apps. I truly can’t say enough about this MacBook Pro upgrade. This is my 6th MacBook, and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this is my favorite. It’s the right combination of the things I loved in the originals (like the MagSafe), and the new and innovative ones like the M1 Pro chip. They are expensive, but if you can make that work, I highly recommend them. We are moving on in our series talking about alternative ways to use Google products, and today it’s all about Google Slides. Slides are a great way for teachers to present content, but it’s also a great creative tool. Its accessibility and ease of use make it a great way for students to show what they know.
Slides' amazing alternative uses come predominantly from three features that just make it different: the ability to easily share, the ability for slides to go straight into presentation mode, and the ability to link between slides. It means you can create things that are not just presentations, and we outline those below. Alternative Uses:
I am so excited to come back to Iowa! I was disappointed when ITEC was pushed to October (that date worked so well for me), but I am so glad that ITEC will be in person here in just a couple of weeks! Come join me for one of the following sessions.
I am terrible at Google Sheets. I know the basics, but getting creative and finding alternative ways to sheets is not my expertise. So....Let’s give you two great resources that have all kinds of great ways to use sheets.
It’s time to start a new series, and this one is a fun one. All the Google Tools that teachers can use have a base level of features. In Docs, you can write. In Sheets, you can analyze data, and in Slides, you can create presentations. All of those are valid in a classroom, but if you can add other functions you can grow your toolbox. Let’s start with Docs.
This is a fun series. All the Google Tools that teachers can use have a base level of features. In Docs, you can write. In Sheets, you can analyze data, and in Slides, you can create presentations. All those are valid in a classroom, but you can grow your toolbox by adding other functions. Let’s start with Docs. The beauty of Google docs is that it has three things built directly into it that make building learning experiences easier. You can now do most of those in Microsoft too, but because they are more upgrades than original features, they can feel like items that are a bit less intuitive. Those three features are easy sharing, easy, feedback, and search built directly into Google Docs. Those three features become the basis for the alternative use of docs: Hyperdocs. What is a HyperDoc? It’s an interactive document that can become the basis and process for almost any creative project. When you start a doc, you just need to look at it from an organizational state. If you use tables, you can organize them into the standard process categories such as Brainstorming, Research, Creation, Feedback. That process can contain as many steps as you want, or it can be based on an existing process like the STEM design process. Once you have that organization, you can color-code those tables to have content that students need, content where they need to respond under another, and any other needs. You can add images, text, and whatever you want to those tables. That’s where the beauty of search comes in: it allows you to add those pictures straight from the search tool in the doc. Sharing and Feedback also makes Hyperdocs more viable. If students are using them to plan creative projects, you want to share with other group members quickly, and you want to be able to share with the teacher. That quick sharing makes collaboration viable, but it also makes feedback quick. Teachers can provide that feedback as students are working through the doc, and you can even easily share for peer feedback. It becomes an additional benefit of the learning. That easy share also means that teachers can easily share these with other teachers. You can just go to https://hyperdocs.co/ to get a great look. After several months, we have finally come to the end of this series. Number 10 is also a perfect one to end on. It’s platform efficiency, but what does that actually mean? I think it speaks to the entire experience a student has with the coding curriculum in school.
Do students get the experience of using block, text, and physical components? Is there a clear pathway? Do they get to experience multiple text languages? Are student skills actually building? All of those questions can be part of a curriculum’s efficiency, and it also speaks to the broader problem of the field because most curriculums are not very efficient. As you look out on the field of coding curricula out there you see many that are either focused on one grade band or one coding language. Adding those physical components is also incredibly scattered as you either have to use that hardware proprietary software or the experience can be limited. Coding is a complex topic and most providers just don’t have the time and the resources to make more. It becomes a question of just focusing on what you are good at. These one-note providers and components then put schools in a bind from top to bottom. At the school and district level, it means that you have to purchase and manage multiple resources which isn’t realistic in a topic area that isn’t required. It also makes it tougher for teachers who aren’t natural programmers to get involved as the more things you have the more complex it is. Teachers also have more difficulty giving students a broad coding experience because they are having to pick and choose from all of the things that are out there and are limited by the resources they know. For students, having lots of different platforms can provide for a disjointed experience. They don’t have that continuous pathway that allows them to improve, and they spend more time learning new platforms than actually coding. They also can have a tougher time free coding on their own time because they don’t know where to go. What if there was a better way? What if there was a platform that had multiple languages and even included coding physical devices? What if that platform was built on skills? I am here to tell you that this platform does exist, and that efficiency is what makes it really stand out. It is such a weird time in education. Educators are under fire in the culture war that is permeating our country. Every day, you see it in the weird laws that lawmakers are coming up with that ban specific topics, require lesson plans to be turned in incredibly early, and dictate the way we talk about history, culture, and race. All while we see an unprecedented historical event in the heart of Europe with Ukraine.
I know for me, the question becomes how do we talk about this? As kids get older, the questions about the situation in Ukraine intensify and become more profound. As a teacher, can we even talk about it, though? With things like World War and Nuclear Weapons in the conversation, I think even adults have questions, so how do we parse this out to students and help them learn from the situation. How do we help them understand the conflict at a depth where they can make the right decisions if they are in charge in 10, 20, 30 years? How do we get there without setting off a political firestorm? I think the answer is to tell them the truth. To start, you have to reassure students that World War and Nuclear War are unlikely no matter what public rhetoric is said. It’s a great way to turn back to history and talk about the Cold War and how we were on the brink multiple times. In that time, leaders realized they were risking mutually assured destruction, which is likely the thought now. It’s one of the main reasons you see NATO not getting involved in a military sense. The war is also an opportunity to late out the correct events of history and let students see both sides. While it’s easy to establish a villain in the current situation in Ukraine, you also set a better understanding of history by learning and thinking through Russian intentions. If you can see their side, you can see the why, and if you can see the why our future leaders may be able to head that off at the pass in the future. It gets to the heart of what history should be. It should be a retelling of history while looking at both sides. Students should see the messy and the terrible. If we only teach the positive in history, we miss almost all of that. I also don’t think taking this approach messes with establishing patriotism in our children. You have to make history appropriate at the student's level, and young children can still start with heroes and loving the American flag. Then as they get older, you transition it into an appreciation of American survival no matter how messy extreme things got. This war in Ukraine is ugly and horrible, and it’s not something we as history teachers can stay away from, though. We just need to talk about it in the right way, and hopefully, we can use it as a proof point that educators can talk about hard things. |
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