"A couple of days ago I received a question about sharing Google Drive files. The person who emailed me wanted to know if there is an easier way to share with a group than typing each person's email address individually. The answer is yes. The method is to create a contact group in your Gmail settings (personal Gmail or GAFE). "
Google Groups is a free online discussion board service sponsored by Google. As long as you create a Google account, you can create and manage as many discussion Groups as you want.
Step 1: Assuming that your already have a Gmail account, go to your Google Contacts and create a new Group (let's say "Media"). Add all the contacts to this group who you want to send a personalized email.
Step 2: Create a copy of this spreadsheet into your own Google Docs account.
Step 3: You'll see a new "Mail Merge" menu in Google Docs near "Help." Click "Import Gmail Contacts" and authorize Google Docs to access your Google Contacts.
Step 4: Click Mail Merge -> Import Gmail Contacts again and type the name of the Gmail group ("Media") that you created in Step 1. Google Docs will now automatically import the relevant Gmail contacts into the spreadsheet.
We've heard many ingenious ways that teachers have used Google Docs in the classroom. Here are just a few:
* Promote group collaboration and creativity by having your students record their group projects together in a single doc.
* Keep track of grades, attendance, or any other data you can think of using an easily accessible, always available spreadsheet.
* Facilitate writing as a process by encouraging students to write in a document shared with you. You can check up on their work at any time, provide insight and help using the comments feature, and understand better each students strengths.
* Create quizzes and tests using spreadsheets forms, your students' timestamped answers will arrive neatly ordered in a spreadsheet.
* Encourage collaborative presentation skills by asking your students to work together on a shared presentation, then present it to the class.
* Collaborate on a document with fellow teachers to help you all track the status and success of students you share.
* Maintain, update and share lesson plans over time in a single document.
* Track and organize cumulative project data in a single spreadsheet, accessible to any collaborator at any time.
Twitter and backchanneling sessions only capture information for finite periods of time. This site will be used to store all of the great links and resources discovered through ISTE 2011 (Jun 26-29, 2011) so you can retrieve them at home. Please join with me and share your favorite links.
Wie kann man Google im Unterricht nutzen? Was ist ausser der Informationsbeschaffung mit Google noch möglich? Lucy Gray sammelt seit März 2008 in ihrer Social Bookmarking Diigo-Group zusammen mit anderen technikaffinen Lehrpersonen zahlreich Links zu diesem Thema.
"In this class you will learn how to work with an incredibly powerful and easy to use suite of tools. And the best part is they are free! The main core group of tools is called Google Applications and these are the tools we will focus on."
Google Docs is an online suite of digital tools that provides teachers with some powerful features to help students develop 21st century writing skills. Since Docs are collaborative and available 24/7, the tool is well-suited for facilitating digital writing workshops that combine peer editing with cooperative grouping and small group fine-tuned writing instruction.
The University College London (UCL) CIBER group will be conducting a study for the JISC and the British Library to investigate how the Google generation searches for information and the implications for the country's major research collections.
"About Google for Educators
At Google, we support teachers in their efforts to empower students and expand the frontiers of human knowledge. That's why we've assembled the information and tools you'll find on this page.
Here, you'll find a teacher's guide to Google Tools for Your Classroom. And to spark your imagination, you'll find examples of innovative ways that other educators are using these tools in the classroom.
While you're here, you can sign up for the quarterly Google for Educators newsletter, as well as check out the latest from The Infinite Thinking Machine, a Google-sponsored, WestEd-produced blog for educators, by educators.
Since we launched the Google for Educators site, we've heard from many of you that you'd like an easy way to communicate with us, and more importantly, with your fellow teachers. To that end, we've launched a new community with the Google for Educators Discussion Group. Visit often to learn of new announcements from us and to share any of your ideas. "
