Tag Archives: #TTTidbit

Cute Google Slide Templates

August 14, 2015Ed. Tech Resources#TTTidbit, Google Presetnation, Google slides, Templateelcordei

Here’s a little Tech Tidbit about a great site called Slides Carnival. I learned about Slides Carnival from Liz Castillo when we were collaborating on a presentation for Kukulu Kaiaulu. She shared her Google Presentation and her slides were so cute! Here it is:

Adorable, right? And that’s just a taste! Slide Carnival has many FREE templates to choose from and within those templates are sample slides and how they can be used to enhance a presentation. For example:

This sample is from the Quince Presentation Template

and

This sample is from the Trinculo Presentation Template.

What’s nice is when you visit Slides Carnival and click on the template, it gives you what the template is designed for and features for the template. The Balthasar Presentation Template, for example:

This free presentation template is specifically designed for finance and professional lectures. With its dark style and daring decoration you’ll impress your audience with your slides. Who says finance and economics have to be boring?.

FEATURES

Fully editable. Easy to change colors, text and photos
25 different slides
Finance themed design with serif typographies.
Graphs, icons, tables and maps
16:9 screen layout (Can change to 4:3 with a click on Google Slides, but some graphic assets may not work well)

So check the cool templates Slides Carnival has to offer!

Automatically Prompt Students to Make a Copy in Google Docs

March 31, 2015#TTTidbit, Ed. Tech Resources, Tuesday Tech Tidbit#TTTidbitelcordei

Sometimes there are these little tips that change your life when it comes to efficiency. For example I still remember the day I learned about the increase indent tool in Microsoft Word and stopped using the tab key! Yesterday I came across one of those little tips that changed my life via Alice Keeler on Twitter. She shared her blog post on how to prompt students to automatically make a copy from a view only document which is today’s Tuesday Tech Tidbit!

It’s SO easy! All you have to do is remove the “edit” from the end of a document url and replace it with “copy”. For example:

URL to shared document –https://docs.google.com/a/ksbe.edu/document/d/18Icfck_cQBZ0wIh-Za-1kEez-GV9KzpY5N195QkhSro/edit

Change the “edit” to “copy” –
https://docs.google.com/a/ksbe.edu/document/d/18Icfck_cQBZ0wIh-Za-1kEez-GV9KzpY5N195QkhSro/copy

Here’s what your students will see when they open the link that’s been changed –

(Notice how I increased the indent? Increase indent tool!)

Would you like to see it in action? Here’s a quick video:

And that’s today’s

Twitter Chats – #TTTidbit

March 2, 2015#TTTidbit, Ed. Tech Resources, Tech Tuesday#TTTidbit, edchat, edchatHIelcordei

#edchatHI is about to go down in about an hour and the topic for tonight is PD That Works. Participating in twitter chats is one form of PD that works for me so while today is not Tuesday, this Tuesday Tech Tidbit is really encouragement to try participating in a twitter chat.

How does one participate? It quite easy actually. Twitter chats use a hashtag so all you have to do is follow that hashtag. How does that work? You could just go on twitter and search #edchatHI but there are a couple of tools that make it easy to participate. TweetDeck and twitterfall are great for watching the stream of tweets. Tweetchat is awesome for engaging because you don’t have to add the hashtag into your tweet which saves time.

I’m going to try to make it home to participate in #edchatHI tonight at 6:00 PM Hawaii time so stay tuned for more information on how to use the tools mentioned above. If you missed #edchatHI, you can always check out their website for a record of the chat.

But in honor of TUESDAY, check out #GAFEchat every first and third Tuesday! 4:00 PM Hawaii time!

Google Hangouts in the Classroom #TTTidbit

February 17, 2015#TTTidbit, Ed. Tech Resources, Tuesday Tech Tidbit#TTTidbit, Google Hangoutselcordei

Google Hangouts are a great way to connect classrooms. Imagine your class taking with the author of a book you just read, or bringing a voyager from the Malama Honua Voyage you’re studying into your classroom. The possibilities are endless (check out the end of this post for classroom ideas). But what exactly is a Google Hangout and how do you even get started?

A Google Hangout, or GHO, a free video conferencing tool with up to 10 participants. But wait, don’t think polycom, think easy way to talk with someone right from your computer, wherever you are. No need to book a special room or pay for fancy equipment. But it’s really WAY better than video conferencing. You can share your screen, share a Google Doc, chat, wear a party hat, and more! Ready to get started? It’s Easy. All you need is a Google Plus account. If you’re a teacher at Kamehameha Schools, you have one. If not, all you need is a gmail account. Here are instructions for setting up a Google Plus Account.

Here are simple instructions for creating a Google Hangout:

Hover your cursor over Home and scroll down and click on Hangouts
On the bottom right, hover your cursor over Start a Video Hangout and then click on Start a Video Hangout
Invite people to attend via email by entering email addresses into the email field and click on Invite

Or, click on change and copy the link to the hangout to share with participants

Below is an infographic that explains the meaning of the icons that are in the Hangout:

And here’s an explanation of the icons at the top of your GHO:

I’ve found the best way to collaborate on a Google Doc in GHO is to just paste the link to your document in the chat.

Now, start your Hangout and bring your conversations to life!

Educational Applications

The educational application of Google Hangouts really are limitless. Here’s a list of some ideas but please feel free to comment on this post to share your ideas:

take a virtual field trip
invite an author into your classroom
connect with another class
broadcast a presentation (GHO on air allows for more viewers)
create a mystery hangout
bring in a guest speaker
Here’s a resource with ideas from multiple educators
Here are some great tips for using GHO in the classroom

If you’re familiar with Skype in the Classroom you are probably familiar with their robust website for connecting educators with other educators to collaborate globally. I have not found Google Hangout website that is as good as skypes, but I did find these Google Plus Communities:

G+eduhangout

Google Hangouts in Education

Of course, if you know of some others, please add them in the comments.

Google Tour Builder – #TTTidbit

February 3, 2015#TTTidbit, Ed. Tech Resources, Tuesday Tech Tidbit#TTTidbit, Google Tourbuilderelcordei

This week’s Tuesday Tech Tidbit (#TTTidbit) is using Google Tour Builder. Google Tour Builder is a Google Earth Plugin that allows you to add images, videos, and text to google earth. But reading about it just doesn’t demonstrate just how cool this tool actually is. Here are some examples you should check out:

Seriously. How cool is that? Google tour builder is such an awesome tool that both teachers and students can use to share their work. Speaking of sharing…people always want to know if the tours are public or private. The tours are shared just like a Google Doc so that’s up to the person creating the tour. You choose to keep it private or share it with the world.

Can you imagine? Using Tour Builder to map the migration of the Polynesians? Or how about a tour of an Ahupua’a including its irrigation and lowland and upland elements? Studying World History? Create a tour of the American’s attack on the Nazis.

I’m actually looking at buying a new house so I created a tour of all of the houses I want to look at, included pictures and pros and cons of each house and was able to share the tour with my family. It was a fun way to get started learning the tool and now I’m hooked! Hey, this might be an awesome tool for Real Estate Agents…

Our #TTTidbit face to face session will actually be next Monday in Kainoa’s room at 3:00. If you’re interested in learning more, hope to see you there or just let me know when a good time to meet is.

If you’re reading this blog and have used Google Tour Builder as a teacher or had your students use it, I would love if you would share your projects! Or, if you have any ideas for a tour, leave me a comment!

Happy Tuesday!