Neat Google Tips and Tricks

Below are some cool shortcuts built right into Google search.

Time in any city -
Want to know the current time in any city around the world? In your search box type the following 'time Seattle'. Press Enter and the very first result will be the current time in that city.

Convert measurements -
Using a new recipe and don't know how many cups of shredded cheese is 12 ounces? In the Google search box type the following '12 ounces into cups'. Hit Enter and you fill learn that 12 ounces is 1.5 cups.

Money conversion -
What is the current conversion between US dollars and Mexican pesos? In the search box, type '8 USD to Mexican peso'. You will learn that 8 US dollars converts to 103.10 Mexican pesos.

Driving time -
To get instant drive times between two locations, in the search box types the two address like I have below. This is the drive time between the Banta building and Maplewood Middle School in Menasha. Search '328 6th Street Menasha to 1600 Midway Rd Menasha'. I learn that it will take me 8 minutes to drive from one building to the other. Google also gives turn by turn driving directions.

Socrative 2.0 - Improvements for Teachers to Use

There are some great features in the new version of Socrative. Socrative 2.0 is a useful tool for surveying and/or quizzing your students for feedback and assessment.

In the new version of Socrative (b.socrative.com)

• Use sub and superscripts in the writing of the questions.
• Sign in with a quick click using the Google Single Sign On and Google Drive Integration for sending the results of your assessments directly to your drive for later review.
• Tag your quizzes with the Common Core Standards they meet. You can tag a quiz with multiple standards.

Take yourself on a tutorial through Socrative 2.0 using this document. A great resource explaining so much from this tool. http://www.socrative.com/materials/SocrativeUserGuide.pdf

Shorten that Long Web Address

Have you seen some of the web address for the pages you use with your students? They are long and have a variety of letters and numbers in them that can easily be typed in wrong.

I suggest using Google Shortener to create shortened web address you can share with your students. Watch the short video below to see how easy it is to use Google Shortener.

Extra bonus! You can see how many times your shortened links have been clicked on or accessed after you share them.

Another Extra Bonus!! Click on 'Details' next to a shortened web address in the list of all your shortened web addresses and you can get a graph of the number of times the site was accessed and you get a QR code that will also go to the site that was your destination. Great way to create a link off of posters! Students can scan the QR code to get to the site.

Hour of Code

What's the buzz about coding? There is a challenge to kids and adults to log on to www.code.org and do an hour of code. Learning about computer code through interactive games can spark an interest in a child that can give them an edge in their education as well as lead them toward a career.

Learn the basic concepts of Computer Science with drag and drop programming. This is a game-like, self-directed tutorial starring video lectures by Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Angry Birds and Plant vs. Zombies. Learn repeat-loops, conditionals and basic algorithms. Available in 34 languages. - http://code.org/learn
Ages 6-106

Some high schools are even adding coding classes to their curriculum. Here is an article from California about schools holding coding events for students and parents. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/11/us/reading-writing-arithmetic-and-lately-coding.html?ref=education&_r=1

http://code.org/promote

Coding is a new 21st Century Literacy - Commentary from famous people

Google Drive Dividing into Separate Apps

You used to be able to access your whole Google Drive from one app, but had to sort through your documents, spreadsheets and slides on that app. Now you can download separate apps for your documents and spreadsheets (slides coming soon).

Google Docs and Google Sheets can be found in both the App Store (Docs, Sheets) and in Google Play (Docs, Sheets).

Is this your first time getting the Google apps on your device? Here is a short summary of what each app can do. https://support.google.com/drive/answer/49008?hl=en

Searching in your Work Email

Below is a quick video showing you how to search in your work email for something that you think might be 'lost'.

New to Google Docs - Add-Ons

Have you found that Google Docs doesn't always have all of the functionality of Microsoft Word?  Well with it's recent addition of Google Add-Ons, Google Docs is starting to even the score with Microsoft Word.