Just wanted to share with you all that Google Plus has been activated for teachers across the SMUHSD district!
The main reason we’ve advocated for the addition of this service is that it allows teachers to easily video conference with each other across the district or within a site using Google Hangouts.
Adding Hangouts can greatly support all of our collaboration teams across the district that are challenged to find a time and location to meet. Up to ten people can join a hangout at a time and participants can share and review documents or video during the meeting. Consider how this new tool might support your work in a PLC, coaching partnership, or elective program and give it a shot.
Once your Google plus account is activated, it's as easy as going to your gmail and select the video camera icon.
Reach out to your site's technology coordinator or let me know if you have any questions and feel free to reach out with a video call if you want to give it a try!
Surprise, surprise...you may have noticed new changes in Google!
This round of changes for you and your students will help you be as efficient as possible, collaborate more effectively, and create beautiful, compelling content.
Take a minute to check out several new features in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Forms. Read on for more information about each!
Research in Docs on Android
Research in the Docs Android app makes working whenever, wherever, easier. Use the feature to search Google without leaving the app, then add those facts, images, and quotes you find directly to your document with only a few taps on the screen. Spend less time toggling between apps and copying and pasting and more time on the work that’s important to you!
Voice typing in Docs
Voice typing allows you to dictate your ideas directly to Docs, both in Chrome on the web and via the Android and iOS mobile apps. When using Docs on the web, simply select Voice typing in the Tools menu, click the microphone button to activate the feature, and start speaking —no keyboard necessary. When using your phone, just tap the microphone button on your keyboard to begin. Voice typing is available in more than 40 languages.
Working better together
Collaborate more effectively with your colleagues and partners using the following new features in Google Docs, Slides, and Forms.
See new changes in Docs
Easily check out the changes made to a Docs file since you last viewed it—and who made them—by clicking See new changes at the top of your document or from the File menu in Docs on the web. Quickly glance at the latest edits and pick up right where your teammates left off.
Revamped Google Forms
Ask and get answers in style with the brand new Forms look, feel, and functionality. In addition to an improved mobile-friendly interface, the revamped Forms features a selection of new themes and color palettes, the ability to customize your form with your own photo or logo, and buttons to quickly insert images, GIFs, and videos. Responses are easier to analyze as well, as they now appear in the same window as the form editor (you can also view them in Sheets).
Try out the new Forms by visiting this site (don’t worry—you can revert back to the old UI at any time). Responders will only see the new UI for those forms created or edited in it. Remember—this is an early, opt-in-only release of the new Forms, and we’ll continue to add features and functionality in the future.
Google Fonts preserved in Microsoft® Word and PowerPoint on PCs
You no longer need to worry about sending documents and presentations created in Docs and Slides to customers and partners using Word and PowerPoint on PCs—even when those documents and presentations contain Google Fonts. Google Fonts will now be preserved when you download Docs and Slides files in Word and PowerPoint.
Create compelling content
Create your best and most beautiful work with a bit of help from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides—in particular, using the features described below.
Explore in Sheets
Spend less time trying to make sense of your data and more time acting on it with Explore in Sheets. This new feature on the web and in the Android app analyzes the data (including some types of text) in your spreadsheets and automatically creates charts and surfaces insights based on that information. Highlight different sets of data and watch as the charts change dynamically, then drag and drop those charts directly into your spreadsheet. You can do the same with instant calculations (for example, the sums and counts of certain ranges). Like a built-in analyst at your beck and call, Explore allows you to easily visualize trends and better understand your data.
Partial cell formatting in Sheets
When it comes to spreadsheets—and the cells that comprise them—we know that one size doesn’t always fit all. That’s why it’s now possible to select only a portion of the characters within a cell in Sheets and to apply text formatting to only those characters (as opposed to the entire cell). This functionality is available on the web and in the Sheets Android app.
Templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides
Focus on your content, not your formatting, with the new templates in Docs, Sheets, and Slides on the web. Choose from a wide variety of documents, spreadsheets, and presentations pre-designed for a multitude of use cases, including newsletters, invoices, pitch decks, case studies, and more. Simply visit the Docs, Sheets, and Slides home screens to access these new templates and get started. While these templates are only available in English at the moment, we’ll be rolling them out in additional languages soon.
If you and/or your employees previously created your own templates, you can still access them (and create new custom templates) at drive.google.com/templates. We understand that some businesses and brands have additional needs when working with templates, and we’re looking to address these in future updates.
Themes in Slides
In addition to using the new templates described above, you can also use a set of 22 new themes in Slides to quickly create compelling presentations. Some of these new themes are simply updated versions of old themes (e.g. Simple Light, Simple Dark, and Swiss), while others are completely new (e.g. Beach Day, Modern Writer, and Spearmint). These themes can be accessed from a new Themes side panel in Slides, so you can easily experiment with and toggle between them when crafting presentations. Though the old themes are no longer accessible from this panel, they will continue to work in any presentations already using them.
Check out the Help Center articles below for more information on each of these new and improved features!
Making Education Relevant and Interactive through Technology (MERIT)
For more than a decade,the Krause Center for Innovation at Foothill College (KCI) has hosted one of the premier educational technology-focused professional development programs in the United States. MERIT is a research-based, educator development program designed to help teachers bolster their curriculum with student-centered, technology-enhanced learning activities to motivate, challenge and inspire the diverse learners and leaders of the future.
The MERIT Program seeks to show through qualitative and quantitative measures that engaging technology in the hands of a well-trained teacher can improve student learning.Participants have the opportunity to learn to use and contribute to a variety of resources for collaboration, and are required to design projects not simply to provide dynamic learning experiences for their students, but also create open educational resources that will be of value to other teachers and students near and far. In helping to make learning and teaching more dynamic, MERIT is working to bring education out of the past and into the future that unfolds before us constantly.
Who should apply?
Participants in MERIT range in age, years of teaching and experience with technology, but all accepted applicants have the potential to help their colleagues develop their understanding of and techniques with a variety of powerful technologies. The MERIT program is open to California teachers and educators (librarians, administrators) of a variety of disciplines, grade levels, and school types. International applicants are encouraged to apply, too! The program includes a special focus on math and science, where there is a significant need to help students develop confidence in and excitement for their future possibilities with these subjects.
