Google is an amazing company that really knows how to incorporate many products and tools and have them all work seamlessly together. They also have an education niche with products that focus on:
- Making learning meaningful
- Empowering innovative communities
- Building a foundation of technology and universal access
Google Tools
Setting Up Your Google Account
To use Google products you do need a free Google account. You can create an account by setting up a gmail (or Google Mail) account or you can create an account using your Stevenson email address. By using your Stevenson email, it will make it much easier to use this tool in your class and allow personal the educational use of Google to be separated.
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Click here to download the "Setting Up Your Google Account" handout.
Google Basics
Google does a wonderful job of providing 'help' from with in any of its products. Anytime you see the 'gear' button, click on it for helpful information. It is usually located in the upper right hand corner.
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Click here to view the "Google Basics Handout"
Gear Button
Click the cloud to view a list of products Google offers.
Google Drive
Google Drive is a service that lets you store all your files including uploaded documents, photos, videos and create new documents, presentations, spreadsheets all within Google online and access them anywhere you have an internet connection. You can share files, collaborate, and organize all within Google Drive.
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Click here to view the "Getting Started with Google Drive" handout
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Click here to view the "Doc Basics Handout"
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Click here to view the "How To Share" handout
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Click here to view the "Docs Collaboration" handout
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Click here to view the "Presentation Basics" handout
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Click here to view the "Spreadsheet Basics" handout
Google+ / Hangout
Google+ is a social media tool where you can connect with others who share similar interests, post things that are important to you, create communities and Hangout.
Google Hangout is a popular tool housed in Google+ that is similar to Skype but there is nothing to download and you can have up to 10 people in a video chat. There are also many collaborative tools you can use in a Hangout as well as the ability to record sessions for later viewing or stream them live to those that cannot attend.
Click here to view the "Top 10 Reasons to Use Google+" handout
Google Forms
Google Forms is a useful tool to help you plan events, send a survey, give students a quiz, or collect other information in an easy, streamlined way. A Google form can be connected to a Google spreadsheet. If a spreedsheet is linked to the form, responses will automatically be send to the spreadsheet.