How to get Reading Blaster on your student's dock

1)  Have your student login.

2)  Drag the question mark that may be on the dock, off the dock into the Desktop space to delete it.

Convert Inventory Files to Google Docs Format

The following instructions were created specifically for your inventory files in Numbers format, but could be used for several file types (i.e Pages, Numbers, etc.).

1) Find your inventory files in your inventory folder on your Google Drive.  Select all of your files, and click “Download…” from the “More” menu.

Google Forms for Beginners

Below is a link to a handy visual guide to Google forms for beginners.

Link

Excerpt from linked site

Google Forms is getting more traction particularly since the introduction of some useful features to its functionality. Now users can very easily insert YouTube videos into forms ; they can also integrate images and create awesome forms with a variety of sophisticated backgrounds. As a teacher, you will find these features handy as you can now create a quiz around a video and get students to exercise their writing, listening, and comprehension skills in ways that were not available before.

Download a Youtube Video

The following article discusses how to flip your classroom when some of your students don't have internet access at home, but more importantly it shows you how to download, or "rip," videos from Youtube and other sites, like Khan Academy, Vimeo, etc.  Once you have downloaded the video, you and your students can view the videos offline.  Additionally, the videos can be edited in iMovie prior to distributing to your students.

eSchoolNews article

NOTE:  In the article, they refer to saving your video file to a "USB."  This "USB" could be a flash drive, jump drive, memory stick, external hard drive, etc.  Referring to a device as a USB can be a little confusing, so you are now ahead of the curve as you read the above article and know that when they say "USB," it could be any memory device that you might be familiar with.

How to Update a Shared Calendar

So someone has shared a calendar with you and you need to add an event to it?  Here is a little primer and how to make it happen.

Lets say someone shared a calendar with you.  They called it “Evaluations 2013-2014,” but you don’t see it in your list of calendars.

Uploading a video to Youtube

1)  Create or find a movie to upload to Youtube.  Click here to verify that it is in a format Youtube accepts.     (Getting video from your camera into your computer so it can be uploaded will be another topic)

2)  Login to your Gmail account.

3)  Go to youtube.com and click “Upload”

Embed Your Video on Your School Webpage

1)  Copy (cmd-C) the embed code from your youtube video.

Embed Your Video in a Moodle Page

1)  Copy (cmd-C) the embed code from your youtube video.

Advanced Sharing and Permissions

This video is an advanced tutorial on sharing, permissions and visibility settings.

You can ignore the parts that discuss the Google Admin console as you do not have access to it.  It does, however, give some insight into the console and what it is capable of.

Skip ahead to 0:14.

Document Organization

This video provides useful tips on organizing your files and folders in Google Drive.

Skip ahead to 1:02.

Sharing Files and Folders

This video show you how to share Google Docs and other files and folders in Google Drive.

Skip ahead to 0:46.

Creating Google Docs

This video shows you how to create a Google Doc.

Skip ahead to 1:08.

Introduction to Google Docs

Google Drive is an excellent way to share files with your students, and for students to share files with you.  Additionally, it can be used as a reliable place to backup your important files in case your laptop goes belly up.

This video covers the basic functionality of Google Drive and how to upload multiple types of files to Google Drive.

Skip ahead to 1:11.

7 Things You Should Do Before You Lose Internet Access

By the time you've lost Internet access it's already too late. We all know the scenarios. You need access to that important document, spreadsheet or presentation while you're home when a bad storm takes out the Internet for the neighborhood?  Well, good luck with that. You're too late. Your phone's data connection is weak, and there's no Wi-Fi around? Yeah, bad news. So take the time now to get a little Internet insurance: Here are 7 things you can do now to make sure the next time you can't get on the Internet, you'll stay just as productive as ever.


(source: grovo.com)

5 Ways to Use Hashtags Without Looking #Stupid

Hashtags. You've seen them used and seen them abused. What started as a Twitter-only feature for linking topics has now spread to every major social media site. Unfortunately, misuse of the hashtag has spread as well. Whether you've been using hashtags on every social media site since your very first tweet, or you're just hearing about them now, you should know that there are some great ways and not-so-great ways to use them. Take this five-minute refresher course on how to use hashtags effectively.

How to Fix Insecure Startup Item disabled message

If you or a student is still receiving this message when you login, here is how to fix it: