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Shows 50 tips that your students can make use of when incorporating Google Docs into the classroom. I like using Google Docs instead of emailing attachments and create shortcuts.

Google has outdone themselves again. Google docs has just added the ability to open a research pane directly within your document. Find information, cite your sources, and add pictures without ever really leaving your document. Great tool for teachers who want to make researching easier for students.

From the Free Technology for Teachers blog, I found an entry about web search lesson plans created by Google. From our previous readings, I've come to understand research strategies as a major component of media literacy. In the blog, there are links to the Google created lessons. The plans are developed according to skill level. I find this an interesting and helpful teacher resource; however, there are some search categories, which are quite elementary, if not useless. Student's research habits are often deplorable, so these tutorials point them in generally useful directions. It is necessary for our students to develop strategies for differentiating between poor resources and rich, academic sources. Is Google created strategies the best option?

It appears this link may be dead

Hi Kevin, I am sorry about the dead end link. If you are still interested try here: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2012/05/web-search-lesson-plans-from-google.html

So you've been using google apps at school for years and now your school is jumping on the iPad train (because everyone else is). When you want to use google docs on this new iPad, be ready for a surprise.

Great article about iPads and collaboration with professional development and Google docs. Google is a perfect tool to increase the level of communication and professional development in every school.

I agree Google is a perfect set of tools for collaboration and communication.

If you are trying to envision ways to utilize G Apps in school, this offers some helpful info.

Thanks Sterling, This is a great resource. I just watched the "32 Ways to Use Google Apps in the Classroom". It's got a great video embedded in it where the students are all working together to write an election speech for their classmate.

Hi Sterling and Colleen, Thanks for sharing, I have been to various Google Professional Development Classes, but this really sums it up in a nutshell.

This Google Chrome extension, Checker Plus for Gmail, allows you to receive Gmail notifications such as sound and a popup dialogue box that allows you to read, reply to, and archive messages without having to go back into your inbox to view the message first. You can change the sounds and the extension is very user friendly.

This is a great tutorial for learning what "G+" is all about and its potential use in education.

It clearly demonstrated how G+ can be used either within admin & staff or college students.The function "hangout" is extremely powerful, which makes the learning happen everywhere without the limits of location or time.

This is a fascinating article to read about a NJ school that took on the Google Platform. Much of what is documented in the article reminds me of why school district went with Google. The ease of emails, calendars, saving documents and designing websites through one platform is so helpful. What I found interesting is that the principal of the school operates with a BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) policy. Her arguments being that as soon as schools make investments in iPads, or laptops etc. the "hardware" is obsolete in no time. She advocates a "learn anytime, anywhere on any device" approach - which I find refreshing and so innovative. At my school, there are many teachers who want to outright ban all personal electronic devices in school - well...for students! This article is a powerful reminder that with guidance and careful, thoughtful planning and implementation, we can make use of everything students bring to school with them - including personal electronic devices.

A shared slideshow that showcases the many uses for Google Apps in education, not just as a teaching tool, but to support productivity as well. It has great suggestions and practice for different level users

Google Tools tutorials

What Is a "Hangout?" A Hangout is a web-based tool created by Google for communicating through video. Up to ten people can "hang out" at one time in a virtual "room." A Hangout can be as simple or as complex as needed. It can be used simply to converse or, through the use of extra apps and add-ons that Google provides, a Hangout can become a virtual meeting space.

Have you ever thought, "Gosh, I wish I had time to learn more about Flickr, wikis, or (enter your Web 2.0 tool here)?" Well, this is your chance to take the time to focus on your personal and professional development around Web 2.0 tools. It's fun to explore these tools and figure out ways to use them in the library, with your personal Web sites, or in other ways.

I will give Zoho a look. We use google docs at my school now. Each staff member and student was given an account with the same extension. With so many sites to choose from it takes time to see which ones you lke. Google docs seems to show up in many articles.

Zoho Writer looks interesting as you need to be invited to participate. Google Docs are used extensively within our school, though I only used them for our NGY Ning project last year. We also use Google Docs for attendance in our after school programs.

Google just recently released 10 classroom-ready lesson plans that teach students how to be responsible digital citizens and to protect themselves online. Lessons include information on media literacy and privacy.

This article provides (as it says) over 100 different tips on how to use Google as a search engine in a way that can get you around blocked websites, or to glean search results that are refined to what you are specifically looking for. I included this article as it seems useful when building a blog, to structure search links and topic links in a way that will result in the consumer of the blog obtaining the content they are looking for. As the article begins, time is precious. As an educator, I need my time in class (and outside if class) to be structured in a way where I can access information easily and quickly and teach students to do so as well. These 102 tips for how to use Google are the tools in the toolbag I believe are necessary to bring this need to fruition. As stated above, the relevance to Blogs is providing useful tips on the Blog for users to utilize to refine searches and yield more meaningful results. These "tricks" would also serve well for a Blog on how to search the Internet!

Google+, another social networking app, is more for professionals as depicted in the article. People can share and connect through G+ just like the way they do in Facebook. Also, it provides features that Facebook does not have, such as "Hangouts" and "Sparks",etc. It's about connectedness and a good platform to practice our media skills.

This article tackles the biggest concern about using social media in the classroom: privacy. The article points out that Google+ is not a cure all for the privacy and security issues presented by Facebook. A good article for educators considering using social media in their classrooms.

61 slides with definition of portfolios, reasons to use them, google tools to use, and examples. "Portfolios are purposeful collection of work that exhibits efforts, progress, and achievements over time"

My favorite URL shorteners. These are used to take those long annoying URLs and shrink them down to a managable size. This tutorial will demonstrate the difference between Google URL shortener, CiteBite, and TinyURl. These all have their unique uses for the educator. Click the link to learn more.

Ensure quality of information by teaching retrieval practices that include alternative sources as well as Google. Using workshops and presentations is important, as it takes time for students to recognize the most valuable and up-to-date content.