Lemon Tech Tidbits

When Google announced the addition of Team Drives, many educators rejoiced. There was finally a way for administrators and teachers to share information with each other without it being assigned to a specific person. Instead, it was shared by the team. For more information on team drives and why you should use them, click here: http://bit.ly/2ZJgFfk ) Recently, Google has announced they are changing the name of Team Drives to Shared Drives. Nothing else will be changing except for a name change. However, if you have any desktop shortcuts, scripts, or other linked to Team Drives, you may want to go in and update them. For more information, click here: http://bit.ly/2ZN7ZV6 *Want to stay on top of all of the G Suite Updates? Take a look at their searchable help article for all of the recent updates: https://support.google.com/a/table/7314896 Some other updates to be aware of include: Duplicate Larger Sites in Google Sites New features in Google Sheets New scheduling features in Googl...

I don’t know how the last couple of days have been for you but where I live, it has been very stormy. And with the stormy weather often comes times when the power goes out and you suddenly lose internet connection. One of the things that I like about using G Suite tools such as Docs, Slides, Sheets and more is the ability to continue to work on them offline which is great when you have no internet. To make your files and documents available offline, you do need a little bit of pre-planning. In your settings (click on the gear in the upper right-hand corner and then select Settings ), there is a box you can select to make all of your files available offline. This is the best option and something I strongly suggest everyone do. However, a new update to G Suite allows you to easily select individual files to be available offline as well. When the file is open, go to File and then select Make Available Offline . A nice little icon will then appear next to the file or folder showing you ...

Many times, students will find a website containing a list or table of data while doing research and simply give it a cursory glance. But one of the important learning tools is to teach students to analyze the data they find to make their own conclusions. In this blog post by Alice Keeler, http://bit.ly/2ZltXhQ , she explains how using a formula will automatically take the data from a website and import it into a Google Sheet. From there, you can use combine other data from other sites, view the data in different ways, and add in a visual chart making it easier to analyze and use the data. The whole trick is to start the formula using IMPORTHTML followed by the website. Alice Keeler provides step-by-step instructions on how to use this formula but goes a step further by providing a Student Guide in Google Docs which makes it easy to share with students.  You can access it here: http://bit.ly/2Uz89eX

Spice up your next presentation or lecture by using s li.do for audience interactions such as asking questions or using polls. Although the site has been created for businesses, there are ways teachers can adapt it to use in a classroom setting. This is a free and paid service with the free version being more than enough for a regular class. On a blog titled TechNotes , Diana Benner writes about using this site in an educational setting. She provides step-by-step instructions on how to get started that are easy to follow. Here are a few things she liked about the site: “I created a meeting event to test this tool out and it was incredibly easy to set it up. It provides you with an overview of how many active users are logged into your event, how many questions have been asked in order of popularity, and how many poll votes have been taken. In addition, an infographic can be created from the results, which can then be shared or embedded.”  - Give it a try today to see what ...

When I was reading Alice Keeler’s post, one thing that stood out to me was what to do if students don’t check their email? (or teachers too?). So when I saw a  post from Richard Byrne about an add-on  that allows you to know if someone actually accesses, reads, and uses the feedback you give them, I was intrigued. The add-on is called  JoeZoo .  You can use it for free for a limited time but it does cost a subscription fee per school after the trial runs out.

25 WAYS TO USE AUDIO IN GOOGLE SLIDES In last week’s Tech Tidbit, I told you about the new update in Google Slides that will allow you to insert audio. In a blog post by Kasey Bell , she explains how you can use this new feature in 25 different ways along with a brief introduction. Reflection: students reflect on what they learn Presentation Narration Background Music to set the tone Simulate Podcasting Evidence of Collaboration Tell a Story Insert Historical Audio Create an Interactive Slide Voice Comments and Feedback Ask Questions Interactive PD Snippets and Tips Interactive Tutorial Choose Your Own Adventure Stories with Voice Fluency and Oral Reading Practice Anecdotes Explain Answers Asynchronous Conversations Verbally Label an Image Perform / Sing Add Audio to e-Book Create an Audiobook PreWriting Sentence Stems Create a Soundtrack Bring comic strips to life

Google has many tools beyond the popular ones such as Slides, Sheets, Docs, and Forms. In fact, there are new tools being added every month. In Eric Curtis latest blog post titled Hipster Google 2: Even More Tools You Probably Never Heard Of , he shares a collected list of this underutilized tools. One of the tools Eric mentions is Data Gif Maker. This simple tool allows students to work with real-world data. After they have collected the data, analyzed it and made their predictions, students need to be able to share their findings with others. With the website Data Gif Maker, students can pick three different types of graphs such as a rectangle, circle, and racetrack by selecting templates. They add in their data points, select colors, add in text and the gif is then automatically created. Students can save the Gif and upload it into a report. To watch a quick video on how to use Data Gif Maker, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cnha2_AvGY

If you have been around me long enough, you will know of my love for Google Keep. I have the app on my phone and the extension in my Chrome browser. I use it at least a dozen times a day to not only store notes but to help with organization in both my personal and professional life. A few days ago, there was a Facebook post with a link to a blog titled hello, teacher lady about Google Keep. The author, Shana, is a middle school teacher who loves using G Suite tools. On her blog, she talks about how she uses the Pin tab to make sure notes are kept at the top. For her, the use of Tasks with a nice graphic at the top makes things easier to see and keep organized. So, she created custom image headers and shares them with everyone who would like to do the same. To read her entire post to learn how she uses Google Keep, click here: http://bit.ly/2TQsHzf

Google Slides recently announced a new update to make it easier to embed audio files. You can embed mp4 or WAV to spice up your presentation. You can either have a short audio clip playing on one slide or a longer one that covers the entire presentation to serve as background music. In the Toolbar under Insert , you will see a new Audio feature to upload a file from your drive or computer. Once you have added in the file, you can hover over it to select options such as volume, playback controls, and the seek bar. You can change the icon of a speaker to a picture if you prefer or leave it as it is and make it small so it is out of the way. Under Format Options , you can change when you want the audio file to play much like if you were inserting a video. You can select for it to play after a click, automatically, only when the slide is shown, or loop it throughout the presentation. If you don’t see these features yet, wait as they are starting to roll out today. In a few weeks, t...